Erised Revisited
by beatlejuice2712
Summary: The staff at Hogwarts are worried; lately, goldenboy Teddy Lupin has been tired, pale, missing classes and wandering around the castle at night. When Harry goes to find him, he finds Teddy mesmerised by a magical object and Harry is confronted with a scene that mirrors a vivid memory from his own past.
1. Suspicious Symptoms

_Bonus points to anyone who can spot the lines I *graciously borrowed* straight from the Harry Potter books. Enjoy!_

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It felt extremely funny to be sat at the grand staff table at the head of the Great Hall. Now he was sat here, however, Harry thought that it really didn't seem that grand at all. The great glass window through which the sun shone as it rose early in the morning and the moonlight glinted late at night wasn't as impressive close up as it was staring in awe at it from the house tables below. The feast on the table didn't seem as majestic, the place settings not as splendid as he'd expected, and the staff really didn't seem that scary. Harry had been invited to give a lesson to the seventh years on how to produce a Patronus. He had no desire to be a teacher- he was more than happy as an auror- but every now and then he enjoyed coming back to Hogwarts to give a talk in one of the Defence against the Dark Arts classes. Hogwarts still had trouble finding a dark arts teacher- even though the curse had long been broken everyone still seemed wary of the position. He'd also been invited to stay for the evening feast- an invitation he felt it would be rude to decline.

He glanced down along the table. Professor McGonagall sat in the middle, in what Harry always regarded as Dumbledore's chair, deep in conversation with Hagrid. Flitwick and Trelawney were there as well, as were a few teachers Harry didn't recognise. Next to Harry sat Professor Longbottom. Neville waved at a few students who were walking along the middle of the hall, looking for a seat at their table, and then turned back to Harry. He had been telling Harry something about one of his Herbology lessons last week and Harry had only half been listening. Neville sounded like a very good teacher, but Harry wasn't really too interested in the type of compost the Amnesia herbs grew best in. He looked down at the students. Harry would much rather have been sat down on the Gryffindor table, in amongst the chatter, the laughter, the camaraderie- the sense of belonging. Harry felt a strange pull in his chest. He was bought back to his conversation with Neville when he heard him mention something about a broken plant pot, a lot of laughter, some disgruntled Slytherins and 'your James'.

"Should you be telling me this, Neville?" Harry asked. "I don't think James would appreciate you telling his dad about the trouble he gets in. You'd go right down in his list of favourite teachers."

A huge smile crossed Neville's face, and he let out a loud laugh. "I'm one of his favourite teachers?" He asked incredulously. "I'd sort of tried for the 'terrifyingly intimidating' teacher like Professor Snape." Neville began to laugh again, but stopped when he remembered who his conversation partner was, and his eyes flicked over to Harry. Harry tried to offer a small smile back. Harry may have forgiven Snape, but Neville still didn't forget Snape's endlessly unjustified tormenting. Neville definitely didn't want to be that teacher- the one who belittled the students and forever put them down. Despite what Harry had tried to tell him, Snape was still a bully and an awful teacher, Neville had decided. He'd much rather hoped he was like Professor Lupin. Perhaps Neville's favourite lesson, besides Herbology, had been the one where he had single-handedly destroyed that Boggart in the wardrobe. With a little encouragement from Professor Lupin, of course. At the thought of Professor Lupin, Neville was reminded of something he had been meaning to ask.

"Have you spoken to Teddy Lupin lately, Harry?" Neville began. "I'm a bit worried. He looked very ill yesterday in class. He was incredibly pale. And he looked like he hadn't slept in a long time. He's usually quite chatty, Teddy, but yesterday, I don't know… he seemed like he had something else on his mind."

Harry suddenly was paying attention. He had noticed that Teddy, a seventh year, hadn't been in his Patronus class today. He didn't like the sound of Teddy being ill. Especially not ill enough to miss Harry's class, and a class on which Harry's knowledge came from Teddy's own father. The symptoms Neville had described sounded distressingly familiar…

Harry glanced automatically up into the enchanted ceiling. The stars twinkled and the moon was almost full, but with a small sliver on the right missing. He racked his brain trying to remember everything he had learnt in astronomy- was this the waning gibbous? Harry felt sick to his stomach. He was sure the waning gibbous came sometime around the full moon. But maybe Harry was over-thinking the situation. Perhaps Teddy hadn't realised Harry was teaching the class today? Harry hadn't told him in the hope of surprising him. And maybe it was actually the waxing gibbous, or a crescent, or something else. Harry had never been any good at astronomy any way. It could just be a cold- it was nearly Christmas and winter was in full swing. Teddy could be overworked- he was taking a lot of classes for his NEWTS. Lycanthropy wasn't passed genetically. They knew this. Everyone had already had this discussion countless times, in hushed voices in the corner of rooms every time Teddy looked a bit peaky. The more Harry considered it, the more he realised it was ridiculous to jump to such a conclusion straight away. Teddy would be fine. It shouldn't be strange for a student to miss a few classes every once in a while, after all!

Still, he began to feel a little uneasy, and decided that now, after the feast was almost finished, maybe it was time he went home. It was funny, really, how Harry always felt that Hogwarts was his home, and now here he was wanting to leave and get back to Grimmauld Place. It just goes to show, Harry thought, that home is entirely dependent on who else is there with you.

He politely excused himself from Neville's company and made his way along the table shaking hands and offering rushed goodbyes to each member of staff. Professor McGonagall rose from her chair and offered to walk Harry down to the gates of Hogwarts, beyond which he would be able to apparate home. Together they walked through the centre of the hall, directly along the edge of the Gryffindor table. Harry scanned along it to find a boisterous black haired boy talking animatedly to a group of friends. He caught James' eye and winked at him as he passed. James would be mortified if he made a scene, Harry knew. However James made a quick smile in return- turns out James didn't think his Dad was so uncool after all. But what Harry was most interested in finding was that shock of turquoise hair which would signify that Teddy was okay. His eyes raked over each head in turn as he walked. Long hair, short hair, black hair, red hair, brown hair. Some heads were looking down at the food, some across the hall, others at each other or down the table, and every now and then one was looking directly at Harry, then quickly away when Harry looked in their direction. But the head he was looking for wasn't there. He'd reached the end of the table and there had not been any out of the ordinary hair colours. Glancing back over his shoulder, he checked more closely to see if Teddy had changed his hair to try and blend in.

"I have not seen him since before breakfast, Mr Potter." Came a voice from next to Harry. Professor McGonagall continued "I saw him yesterday evening walking the corridors, he was incredibly pale and looked like he had lived 100 days without sleep, but he assured me he was fine, just a little overworked, and was going straight to bed once he had finished his head boy duties. I told him to forget the corridor patrol and to return to his dormitory immediately- he looked like one good hex could finish him off! But again he assured me he was fine. He did not seem to want to return to his dormitory, and I got the distinct impression he was putting on a façade, however."

"Do you think he…" Harry paused. He considered that maybe Teddy had a reason for telling McGonagall he was fine. He began again. "Do you think he is taking too many subjects? Perhaps that's why he pretended he was fine. We said it would be too many but Teddy doesn't like to be proved wrong." Harry knew this was a lie- Teddy was more than capable of handling his studies. But somewhere on the edges of his mind the idea of suspected lycanthropy crept ever closer. Something just didn't add up. First Teddy was tired, pale, missing classes, and now he was walking around the castle during the night.

"Professor," Harry began.

"Please, Potter, there's no need for professor now! I haven't taught you in almost 20 years!" McGonagall laughed.

Harry replied with a polite laugh. He didn't feel that now was really the time. "Would it be okay if I went to talk with Professor Dumbledore? Only for a little while. Just for a catch up, really." This was another lie, and this time Harry expected McGonagall knew.

"I am rather partial, as was Dumbledore, to muggle sweets. Especially jelly babies." Came McGonagall's reply. Harry nodded, thanked her for his invite to teach the class today, and McGonagall in return offered her thanks to Harry. Once more she tried to convince Harry that teaching was a career choice he should really consider, and once more Harry told her he was happy as an auror. As she turned her back on Harry and swept into the Great Hall, Harry launched himself up the white marble staircase.

He had absolutely no idea where Teddy could be. He had considered the Gryffindor common room as the first place to look, but halfway up the stairs to the fifth floor he realised he didn't know the password. And then Harry began to doubt if Teddy would go there- surely that would be the first place anyone would look for him. He wondered about the room of requirement, but as Harry had never told him about it he doubted he would know it was there. In all honesty, thought Harry, Teddy could be anywhere. He had received the map from Harry for his 13th Birthday- much to James' annoyance, but at Harry's insistence, as Teddy's dad had been one of the cartographers after all- so there was literally the whole castle open for exploration.

Then he remembered what he had just told McGonagall. Teddy took a lot of subjects for his NEWTS, and as a result, spent a lot of time working. There was a good chance, if Teddy was really only overworked, that he could be in the library, and Harry knew that sometimes people could get carried away in that library. He smiled fondly at the many memories of Hermione crammed between tower upon tower of books. He turned on the stairs and headed down to the fourth floor.

The castle seemed eerie somehow. Everyone was still in the Great Hall finishing the feast, and no students, or ghosts for that matter, were anywhere to be seen. Even the portraits seemed quiet. It was nearly Christmas and the dark nights made it seem later than it really was. The moonlight peered in through a nearby window and danced on the stone floor. Harry thought back to all the times he had roamed freely around this castle at night. He thought with a fond heart about the midnight trips under the invisibility cloak, to the library, to the kitchens, to Hagrid's hut, to imaginary duels with Malfoy and to trapdoors and secret chambers. He remembered when the cloak seemed so huge that he, Ron and Hermione could easily fit under it, and then when they got bigger and the cloak seemed smaller, and they had to be more careful to avoid a suddenly disembodied foot emerging from seemingly nowhere. He remembered the Marauders Map, back when Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were just four names who had created a map that led him to Hogsmeade, led him all around the castle, down shortcuts and secret stairways. And he remembered, too, every time he had stood under the cloak, breathing deeply in a dark corridor during the night, practically face to face with Professor Snape and hoping and praying that he wouldn't walk anywhere near him. Just like the time in his fourth year when, on his way to investigate a peculiar occurrence he had spotted on the map, he had stuck his food straight through the trick step on his way down a secret shortcut. He had watched, hidden under the cloak, half frozen in horror and half frozen thanks to the trick step, as Professor Snape had stretched out his hands like a blind man, and began to move up the stairs towards Harry. Harry had been inches away from being caught, but Professor Moody, or rather, who Harry thought was Professor Moody, had stepped in to save Harry's skin.

The sound of Harry's shoes on the cold floor echoed off the castle walls and dragged him from his reverie. He had somehow taken a shortcut that even he didn't know existed. Perhaps because it was dark, he didn't recognise where he was at all. He passed a tall suit of armour, similar to the one he remembered near the kitchens, but he knew he must be five floors above there. He was in a very narrow corridor, and a door stood open ajar at the end.

"Lumos." Harry muttered, and a thin dome of magical light shone from the end of his wand. There was a window in the corridor, but it was small, and only let a little light in. Something in Harry's peripheral vision stirred and as he turned he saw a shadow flash across the wall. He shone his wand in the direction from which he thought the shadow had come. A scrawny, dust coloured cat with bulging, lamp like eyes was patrolling the corridor alone. Harry always had an urge to give Mrs Norris a good kick, now more than ever. She seemed to look directly at Harry before scurrying off, probably to find Filch, thought Harry. Filch honestly didn't seem that scary anymore.

And at that moment, the corridor seemed oddly familiar to Harry. The realisation suddenly rushed back to him, and he was that little eleven year old boy, cowering under his invisibility cloak, his heart pounding, as he tried to hide from Filch who had almost caught him in the restricted section of the library. Despite not having been back since those evenings in his first year, Harry knew what he would find behind that door at the end of the corridor. And as a wave of sorrow flooded over him, he knew who he would find there as well.

Harry hesitated. He didn't want to find Teddy anymore. He wondered if perhaps he should go back. Harry knew better than anyone how Teddy would be feeling. But Teddy needed him, so bravely, Harry walked along the corridor and gently pushed open the door.


	2. The Deepest Desires of our Hearts

_Thanks for the follows/favourites/review! I'm glad that there is someone interested in my story! :D_

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The room hadn't changed much since Harry was eleven. It looked like a disused classroom, dark shapes of chairs and desks were piled against the wall and an upturned waste paper basket stood in a corner, but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look like it belonged there, that looked as if someone had put it there to keep it out of the way. And sat in front of the magnificent mirror, with the ornate golf frame and the clawed feet, was Teddy. He had his back to Harry, but he could tell who it was. Teddy's hair was light brown, not like his usual blue. Harry felt like his insides had turned to ice. He wasn't sure that Teddy had noticed him come in, so he quietly cleared his throat.

Teddy shot round and let out a guilty gasp. He jumped up from the mirror and clumsily shoved his wand out in front of him. His eyes were wide open and he was breathing in short, quick breaths. But when he realised it was Harry, his breathing slowed, and his expression returned to normal. "Harry." Teddy whispered. "I…I…" He stuttered. "I thought you were Filch." Teddy quickly put his wand back into the pocket of his robes and furrowed his brow. He was, as ever, trying to hide his emotions. He shook his head and took a deep breath, then in a carefully steady voice he began. "I, erm, I…" He was struggling for words, Harry could tell. Then Teddy seemed to realise something. "Why are you here at Hogwarts?" He asked Harry.

"I was teaching a Defence against the Dark Arts class today. Your Defence against the Dark Arts class, actually." Harry replied calmly, although he didn't feel calm at all. He just wanted to get straight to the point with Teddy.

"Oh, really? I didn't realise, I'm sorry I missed it. I was a little…um, preoccupied. What was it about?" Teddy was trying his hardest to sound casual.

"It was interesting, Teddy." Harry replied. "You would have enjoyed it. It was on Patronuses. In fact, your dad taught me all about them. It seems a shame that you missed it."

At the mention of his father, Teddy made a strange movement towards the mirror, and Harry took his chance.

"I know what that mirror does." He began to walk closer to Teddy, who still stood in front of the mirror. Teddy cast his gaze onto the floor, ashamed.

"I couldn't help it." He breathed, so quietly Harry strained to hear him.

"It is the Mirror of Erised." Harry said simply. He didn't know what else to say.

"I didn't know it was called that."

"I expect you've realised by now what it does?"

Teddy fell silent, and turned his gaze longingly back to the mirror.

Harry carried on. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest desires of our hearts."

"I know." Teddy said sadly.

Harry repeated the exact words he remembered being told all those years ago. "This mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." He winced a little; these words didn't sound as wise coming from Harry as they did when Dumbledore had said it to him. He felt a little embarrassed. Evidently, Teddy hadn't noticed, as he was still staring forlornly at the mirror. He had sunk back down to the floor, and sat in the exact position Harry had found him in.

The surface of the mirror shimmered and glinted but Harry refused to look into it. He had been here before, and he really didn't want to bring back all those memories of those cold nights he had spent kneeling in front of it. And he also didn't want to think back of the last time he saw the mirror, when he had pulled the philosopher's stone out of his pocket. It was funny how one magic mirror could cause so much grief. But as Dumbledore had said, men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they had seen, or been driven mad by it. He had to help Teddy.

"Teddy, I know about this mirror because I found it, just like you. I came across it one night, I didn't go looking for it…"

"I did." Teddy quietly interrupted. Harry stopped what he was about to say, deciding it would be better to let Teddy finish. Teddy finally looked up to Harry and continued, "You told me, not long ago, about how you saw your parents once in a magic mirror in Hogwarts. And I thought, it's probably still there, somewhere."

"How long have you been looking for it?"

"Not long. The map helped. Harry," Teddy hesitated.

"I know what it's like to be sat there, Teddy. I know what it's like to see people you can hardly believe were real." Harry comforted.

"Harry," Teddy began again. "Just looking at them, seeing their faces, it's wonderful!" Teddy smiled, his eyes wide with awe. He turned back to the mirror. "They're there! I can see them! At first, it seemed so real, I really thought for a second…"

"Teddy, honestly, I really know, more than anybody else, what you're feeling right now." Harry tried to comfort Teddy again. Teddy rested his head on his knees and looked away.

"You don't understand." Said Teddy at last.

"Explain, then." Said Harry.

Teddy swallowed.

"You've told me before, you saw your parents loads after they died." Teddy whispered. "In the mirror, then from Voldemort's wand, the times in that pensieve thing, and then in the forest! Even with the dementors, you said you'd hear their voices. I have no idea what my parents sound like! I wouldn't even know if I'd ever heard them speak!" Harry got the impression that Teddy had been storing this up for a while, and now it all just seemed to spill out of him. He lifted his head off his knees, but still looked away from Harry. "Harry, I can barely talk to people about them. Gran will talk about my mum, but she refuses to speak about my dad, she says she didn't know him that well. Anytime I mention them someone always looks away, or just sighs, or you can see that sad little flash in their eyes…" He began to trail off and Harry seized the opportunity to try and comfort him again.

"You can talk to me, Teddy. You know that. I'll talk to you about Remus and Tonks. Anytime. Honestly. I know what it's like, and I would've loved to have someone to really talk to about my parents."

Teddy seemed to ignore him. "There are hardly any photos. And people just say 'they were very brave' and they look at me pityingly. Huh, 'War Heroes'." Teddy spat. "You know, my parents died in the grounds of this castle! How many times must I have walked over the exact spot where they were killed?!" Harry's breath caught in his throat.

"And I miss them." Teddy had never admitted this before, and Harry didn't know what to do. "And I feel guilty to miss them. Because I never got to know them, so I don't deserve to miss them, or feel sad about them. I don't know anything about them, not really. Why should I miss people I never knew?"

Teddy had taken a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "And up until last week, when I found this mirror, I wasn't even sure what they looked like."

Harry looked down at the forlorn Teddy and he remembered the first time he met Professor R. J. Lupin on the Hogwarts Express at the start of his third year. He remembered their lessons on boggarts and grindylows and red caps and hinkypunks, his anti-dementor lessons, the time Lupin had covered for him when Snape discovered the map. He remembered the night in the Shrieking Shack, when Harry had watched him embrace an Azkaban escapee as a brother. When he saw Lupin transform into a monster in front of the full moon.

He thought back to when Lupin had asked him what his patronus was when he rescued him from the Dursleys, when Harry first met Tonks, how she changed her hair from purple to pink, how she tripped over the Troll Leg umbrella stand at Grimmauld Place. When Lupin had restrained Harry to stop him running after Sirius through the veil. When Tonks had so bravely declared her love for a man who deemed himself too old, too poor and too dangerous for her. And when Lupin had turned up on the doorstep of Grimmauld Place and offered to help Harry with his mission. When he had asked Harry to be Teddy's godfather. All the memories of them swelled in his mind, like they were fighting for a way to get out. It seemed cruel to Harry that he got to spend so much time with Remus and Tonks, and Teddy so little.

As Teddy stared up into that mirror, he looked so much older. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked like Remus. No one had ever told Teddy how much like his parents he looked, mainly because no one knew what a metamorphmagus really looked like.

"You look just like your father, Teddy." Harry wondered if this was what Teddy would like to hear. Teddy didn't say anything.

Harry desperately wanted to help, but he just couldn't think of anything comforting to say. They sat in silence for a while.

The silence shattered as the door creaked open. Harry turned instinctively, his wand held out.

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_Any guesses as to who's at the door?_


	3. Pity the Living

"Who's there?" Harry called. He squinted into the light suddenly cast through the opened door to see who it was. The door was only open ajar, and he couldn't see anyone's shadow. Perhaps it was James playing tricks, he thought. He knew he shouldn't have given him that cloak. Teddy didn't seem to flinch at the sound of the door opening. Then Harry heard tapping across the cobbled floor. He swallowed, and tightened his grip on his wand.

A pale, wrinkled head, with a quantity of white hair growing out of two batlike ears, bobbed above one of the desks as it crept closer to where Teddy sat.

"Kreacher?" Harry said bewildered, and lowered his wand. Harry had angrily ordered the house-elf back to the Hogwarts kitchens after he had one day launched into an unholy tirade of insults aimed at Harry when he finally managed to break the sticking charms and remove Mrs Black's portrait from the wall. Kreacher felt this was a huge disrespect to his former, and favourite, mistress and had decided to let Harry know. Harry had never been inclined to order him back to Grimmauld Place. Kreacher took no notice of his master and continued walking on. He was carrying a tea tray laid up with a goblet of pumpkin juice and a dinner plate piled high with a strange variety of food- curry, roast potatoes, a slice of bread, a huge mountain of carrots, some of the Irish stew Harry had only ever seen Seamus Finnigan eat, and a small piece of steak. In the light from the door Harry could see the meat was still extremely red. This tray of food had to be for Teddy- Teddy, unsurprisingly, and somewhat ironically Harry thought, preferred his streak rare. Kreacher most likely had collected this food from the feast that Teddy had missed- except the steak. Harry had never seen steak cooked so rare at the feast. Kreacher must have done it especially. But Harry was suddenly suspicious- why would Kreacher, the house-elf who had so rudely greeted the Order of the Phoenix when they had arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place all those years ago, bring food to Teddy? Kreacher had once worshiped a mistress who despised mudbloods, blood traitors and half breeds, yet here he was, bringing a tray of food to the son of a metamorphmagus and a werewolf. Harry had heard Kreacher say some incredibly cruel things to Remus, and he remembered when, after Sirius had died, Dumbledore had turned up in Privet Drive with Kreacher, who threw a violent, but entirely silent, tantrum because his new master was 'the Potter brat' and not his beloved Bellatrix. He had laid the tray down next to Teddy, who, without looking, mumbled a thank you to the house-elf. Harry half-smiled. Always polite, he thought, like his father. And very trusting- Harry still wasn't sure of Kreacher's intentions. It would seem funny to Kreacher to poison a 'filthy half breed' such as Teddy.

"Kreacher." Harry repeated again, louder this time, yet just as accusingly. "What are you doing..."

But Kreacher stopped him before he could finish. He looked up at Harry, the first time he had acknowledged that he was there. Kreacher's cheeks were shiny, and his huge round eyes seemed glassy. His whole face reflected sadness- not at all like the cruel, loathing kind of look he always seemed to wear back at 12 Grimmauld Place during the time of the Order of the Phoenix. There was something in his expression- was it sympathy, Harry wondered?

"Kreacher knows what it is like to miss the dead, Master Harry." Kreacher bowed his head, then skulked off back to the door, Regulus's locket glinting in the light from outside.

And Harry knew what it was like to miss the dead as well. As much as it hurt Harry to see Teddy like this, and as desperately as he wanted to cheer Teddy up, he knew that perhaps right now, Teddy didn't need all his reassuring words. Kreacher hadn't asked questions, or offered pity; he had simply offered friendship in the only way he knew how. Teddy had always seemed, in Harry's opinion, incredibly brave. He worked hard and he kept smiling, despite his circumstances, despite what had happened to him, to his parents. It was rare for Teddy to complain. Now, though, he needed someone to sit next to him and support him and let him, for once, be sad. So that was exactly what Harry did. He sat down next to Teddy and put his arm around his shoulder supportively. And Harry felt sad too. For Teddy, for himself, for their parents. Together they sat in silence in front of that strange mirror.

Harry chanced a quick peep at the mirror. As much as he hated himself for giving into the temptation, he just wanted to see his parents in the mirror once more. He cast his eyes over the heavy gilded edges first, taking in the ancient runes and the curious inscription carved around the edge. But as the figures in the mirror came into focus Harry realised the image was different, and he had to admit to himself that he had half-expected it.

The image that reflected back at Harry had changed since he first found the Mirror of Erised. The white and scared looking little boy with messy hair, glasses and a lightning bolt scar had disappeared, along with all the other members of the family he never got to know. Now another family smiled back at him. First, a man who seemed quite young, yet his light brown hair was flecked with grey, whose robes were shabby and had been darned in several places, and who had a pallid profile- he looked exhausted, yet happy. A young witch with a pale, heart shaped face, dark twinkling eyes and short spiky hair that was a bubble-gum pink colour stood next to him, her arm around his waist. And stood in front of them, just shorter than them both, with his dad's hand resting on his shoulder, was a boy with bright turquoise hair and an enormous smile on his face. Harry smiled sadly and the Lupins, oblivious to everything sad that had happened in the world, smiled back. It seemed peaceful in the mirror. Harry's heart dropped into his stomach. He missed Remus and Tonks terribly and he felt an overwhelming sense of sympathy for Teddy. Even though Harry knew that no spell could reawaken the dead, he wished more than ever that there was something he could do to reunite the Lupins, for the mirror reflected not his face, but his heart's desire.

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_Please let me know what you think of the story so far! _


	4. The Brave at Heart

_A short chapter today. Not sure what I think about this chapter but I feel like it needed to be here for plot reasons. Again some lines are shamelessly stolen from the books but I just like to link it to them!_

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Harry felt Teddy stir next to him. He had turned to his plate of food and began to pick at it with a fork. He looked as if he was thinking something over in his mind. After taking a few mouthfuls of the curry, he finally began to speak.

"Harry, can I ask you a question?" Teddy said. He sounded a little more cheerful than before, and Harry felt relived. Perhaps his attempt at comforting Teddy had helped- although he seriously doubted it. Ginny was always better at cheering people up.

"Was my dad brave? I overheard Gran once when someone had said to me 'how brave my parents were'," Teddy pulled a face as he remembered, "And Gran rolled her eyes and I heard her say that only a coward would leave his pregnant wife."

Harry felt a wave of guilt rush over him- he too had called Lupin a coward for leaving Tonks whilst she was pregnant. Harry reasoned that it had resulted in the desired affect- Lupin had returned to Tonks. But Harry still felt awful.

It probably didn't help that Andromeda cursed Lupin every time Teddy looked ill, or even when he stopped to look at the moon. But despite how she felt about Remus, she rarely spoke poorly about him, especially not in front of Teddy. Harry remembered what Lupin had once told him. _'Even her own family are disgusted by our marriage, what parents want their only daughter to marry a werewolf?'_ Of course, she was only worried about her daughter, as she would now worry for her grandson, and Harry did feel pity for Andromeda. Had it not been for Lupin, Tonks might not have run after him to join the war and ultimately, meet her death. She had lost everything in a war she wasn't even part of.

This was the conversation Harry had been dreading. How was he to convince Teddy that Remus had always been, in Harry's opinion, incredibly brave? Despite what he may have called him on the night he turned up at Grimmauld Place. He had dealt with some of the cruellest prejudices the wizarding world held, had suffered every month for most of his life due to his excruciatingly painful transformations, had lost all his closest friends within the space of one night, and had been shunned and rejected for something he had no control over. He worked hard and he kept smiling, despite his circumstances, despite what had happened to him. Harry realised how alike Teddy and his father were, and it was strange that two people who had never really met could be so similar. Harry considered carefully how he should reply.

Teddy sighed. "I've always been 'Harry Potter's godson'. Never 'Lupin & Tonks' boy'."

"You shouldn't be ashamed of them, Teddy." Lupin's words from that night in Grimmauld Place echoed around Harry's mind. _'It will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father whom it must always be ashamed'_. Harry felt the remorse bubble up in his stomach as he remembered telling Lupin that he would be ashamed of him. He felt sick to think of how he had spoken to Lupin that night. "He died whilst defending a world that rejected him his entire life. He was extraordinarily brave." Harry continued simply.

Harry felt his insides twisting. They sat silently as Teddy finished his food. Once he was done, he waved his wand over the empty plate and goblet and muttered 'Evanesco' to make it vanish.

"Teddy, you need to go back to your dormitory."

"I know." Teddy sighed, defeated, as he rose to his feet.

"I don't want you to come back to this mirror. I know what it's like to finally get a glimpse of people you can hardly believe existed, but I know what kind of damage it can cause! Please promise me you won't come looking for the mirror again." Teddy didn't reply.

Harry walked with Teddy up to the Gryffindor tower. They didn't speak about the mirror, or Teddy's parents, but Harry tried to make small talk about the upcoming Christmas Holidays and what Mr and Mrs Weasley had planned for Christmas Dinner at the Burrow. He was trying to cheer Teddy up, and Teddy was polite enough to play along in the conversation. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Teddy muttered the password, and the portrait swung open.

"Remember what I said. I need you to be brave, Teddy." Said Harry. "See you in a week."

Teddy nodded at Harry and silently crept through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor common room.

Harry was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't even realise he had made it down to the ground floor of the castle. He walked along a corridor to the front door and glanced out of the window. One of the main courtyard's had been preserved in its war condition as a reminder of the destruction Hogwarts had suffered, and also to show how it had rebuilt itself despite its damage. Harry shuddered as he thought of that night, the memories that he had tried so hard to forget flooding into his subconscious mind… He imagined how difficult it must be for Teddy to have to walk by it almost every day for the past seven years knowing that his parents died in a scene not dissimilar to that. He was still worried about Teddy.

Quietly, tentatively, Harry spoke into the darkness. "Kreacher?" There was a very loud _crack_ and the house-elf appeared in front of him.

"Master called me?" croaked Kreacher.

"Yeah, I did." Said Harry. "I've got a job for you."

"Kreacher will do whatever master wants." Said Kreacher, sinking so low that his lips nearly touched his gnarled toes.

"I need you to keep an eye on Teddy for me. I want you to make sure he doesn't go back to that Mirror. Stick to him like a wart plaster."

Kreacher bowed deeply again and said "Kreacher will not let Master Lupin out of his sight."

It wasn't an ideal solution, Harry thought, but it was the best he could think of to make sure Teddy stayed safe.

But somewhere at the very back of his mind, another idea was forming, and he began to try and think of a way he could possibly get it to work.


	5. The Odd Couple

_A lighthearted chapter today- I feel that we need a break from all the angst. I LOVE this chapter. I think Teddy & Kreacher are my new favourite duo!_

* * *

True to his word, Kreacher had stuck by Teddy for the whole of the remaining week before the Christmas break. Whilst Teddy had liked the house-elf's services in helping keep his dormitory clean and packing his trunk ready for the Christmas Holidays, he hadn't been that keen on his constant presence next to Teddy in all his lessons and during all the feasts. He thought Kreacher had taken Harry's orders a bit too seriously. The fact he was always around Teddy prompted a lot of pointing and questioning from the other students. He didn't like that Harry had ordered the elf to 'keep an eye on him'- it made him feel like a child. And it made him the butt of several unfunny jokes from the Slytherins.

"Oh, look!" He had heard one of the Slytherin girls yell from across the classroom during a Potions lesson as Teddy found a desk to sit down at. "Loony Lupin's got his babysitter with him again! I guess it must be hard being Precious Potter's godson…" Teddy looked round to the wrinkly little elf, who was shuffling hunchback, slowly and doggedly behind him, carrying his books. Well, Teddy had thought, if he had been saddled with the house-elf for a week, he may as well put him to some use.

"Filthy purebloods!" Teddy heard Kreacher mutter under his breath as he climbed onto the bench next to Teddy. "Kreacher is not a babysitter. Kreacher is a guardian!" He had turned his squashed little face to the girl in question, who was now cackling loudly with her friends, and clicked his fingers. The girl squealed as her nose transfigured into a hideous, hairy pig's snout.

"Teddy!" She grunted, and then let out an unholy snort like a pig. "What did you do?!"

"Sorry Matilda!" Teddy smiled sarcastically. "House-elf magic. It's incredibly powerful. I'd be surprised if you could fix that. Although, I really can't see any difference!" Teddy scrunched his eyes up in concentration and forced his nose to resemble the pig's snout that Matilda was now modelling. He wiggled it at her and stuck out his tongue, before letting it relax back into a normal nose shape.

The girl shrieked at him before several of her friends hurried around her and took her off to the hospital wing, snorting and grunting as she went.

"Detention, Mr Lupin!" Called the Professor, as she walked to the front of the class having just passed Matilda and the other Slytherin girls in the doorway.

Teddy protested. "It was Kreacher! Not me!"

"Then Kreacher," She peered over her glasses at the miserable house-elf "can join you. Tomorrow evening, my office."

Teddy had sulked at Kreacher for the rest of the day, and the next as well, until it was time for their detention. He had slowly made his way down to the Professor's office after the feast with Kreacher trailing at his feet. At one point, he had tried to hold his foot back whilst walking to trip Kreacher up, but Kreacher simply tapped his shoe with a light touch that made Teddy's foot spasm painfully.

The detention had been to scrub all the cauldrons until they sparkled, which Teddy had immediately inwardly groaned at- he knew that this wasn't a pleasant task. But he forgot the house-elf's abilities, and Kreacher was able to climb into the large pans and expertly scrub them clean, and the two had finished all the cauldrons in record time. The professor had tried to find some problem with the cauldrons, but Kreacher's work had been excellent, and they were free to enjoy the rest of their evening. Teddy had tried to play a game of gobstones with Kreacher, but Kreacher didn't know the rules and kept cheating. Kreacher had also moaned all throughout their game about poor old Kreacher having to clean cauldrons because of the werewolf's ungrateful son. Teddy definitely heard 'shape-shifting brat' and 'what would Kreacher's poor old mistress say?' in amongst his insults somewhere, but decided to ignore it.

Kreacher had stopped whining briefly during the week's Transfiguration lesson. The class had been set a task of transforming bits of rock and gravel into gemstones, which was notoriously hard to do; it was difficult to turn something of such little worth into such a highly valuable item. Kreacher's eyes had grown to the size of flying saucers as he admired the glistening ruby the Professor had on his desk, which he had transformed from a chunk of old breezeblock. The Professor had said that anyone who completed the task successfully could keep their gemstone as a Christmas gift for their parents. Teddy had easily transformed his bit of rubble into a garnet. He told Kreacher he could keep it.

They had settled into a strangely warped routine. In the morning when Teddy awoke, Kreacher sat at the end of his bed with an irritable expression on his face. As Teddy got dressed, Kreacher collected his books, quills and parchment, and complained to Teddy that his unkempt hair made him look like a troll, and Teddy complained to Kreacher that his warty face made him look like a shrivelfig. Teddy would then stare at his reflection in the mirror, considering how he could change his hair to make Kreacher shut up, whilst Kreacher made his bed, and when Teddy decided he liked his hair how it was, Kreacher promised he wouldn't speak to Teddy for the rest of the day. But when they arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast and Teddy would head straight to the table to try and find a space next to his friends, Kreacher would always begrudgingly follow. Teddy would collect some breakfast items on his plate, mainly toast and bacon and fried eggs, and Kreacher would berate him for choosing such an unhealthy meal and Teddy would tell Kreacher that he didn't want to take advice from a miserable sod. During the lessons, Kreacher would tell Teddy he had got all his answers wrong, and Teddy would stick his tongue out at him when the teacher told him they were all right. Kreacher would accompany Teddy to the Quidditch pitch, but it was difficult to practice properly when an ill-tempered house-elf kept bewitching the Quaffle and stealing the Snitch. At one point, Kreacher threw the Snitch at Teddy, and it hit him in the crook of his elbow, and when Teddy went to retrieve it to throw it back at Kreacher, it had disappeared. Teddy told Kreacher that if he didn't stop they would use him as the Bludger and Teddy would happily take over all Beater duties if that happened. In response, Kreacher transformed the beater's bats into leeks, and Teddy hit him with it anyway. In the evenings, Kreacher would escort Teddy to the bathrooms with soap- which would always transfigure into a piece of coal when Teddy used it- a towel and his pyjamas, leave him to shower in peace (Teddy was grateful for the small moment when he was free from Kreacher's watch) but Kreacher was always outside waiting to walk him back to Gryffindor tower. As Teddy got into bed, Kreacher magically removed the dirt from Teddy's robes, smoothed out the wrinkles and hung them up ready for the next day, grumbling all the while, telling Teddy that crumpled robes made him look a mess, and Teddy would tell him that he looked a mess in that dirty rag tied like a lion cloth that he wore. They both bade each other goodnight followed by a quick 'see you in the morning'. Teddy even offered a 'sweet dreams' once, mainly to annoy Kreacher, and Kreacher had returned a look of utter disgust and loathing.

Kreacher was a funny companion. He seemed to mutter under his breath continually to himself, about no one and nothing in particular, in a hoarse deep voice like a bullfrog's. Teddy wondered if Kreacher knew he could hear him as he could often pick out his own name in between huffs and groans that gave him the impression that perhaps Kreacher wasn't too pleased to have been charged with keeping an eye on Teddy. So Teddy often moaned back at him, and the two nearly always ended up in some kind of strange argument where both were complaining about each other but neither really seemed to be paying attention to the other. They bickered about idle things- which way was the quickest to the next lesson, what seat was the best in the class, what Teddy should be eating for dinner, why he should try and keep his robes cleaner. Teddy's friends found the situation funny; the sight of a metamorphmagus and a house-elf squabbling would make anyone laugh. They kept up a constant steam of insults to each other, but neither really meant it. And weirdly, despite his dreary attitude, Teddy felt uplifted with Kreacher's company.

Yes, having Kreacher as a constant chaperone was oddly comforting, and Teddy couldn't believe it when Friday rolled around and he realised that the term had ended for the Christmas break and he would be returning home on the Hogwarts Express the next day. Teddy asked Kreacher what he would be doing for Christmas, hoping Harry would let him come back to Grimmauld Place, but it turned out that Christmas was Kreacher's most despised time of the year. Unsurprisingly, he was a real Scrooge. Teddy had asked him why he hated Christmas, and Kreacher had replied that a mutant freak like Teddy couldn't possibly understand the complex emotions Kreacher felt towards Christmas, and Teddy had called him a grumpy git.

Kreacher had stuck to Teddy like a bad-tempered, shrivelled up wart. However, his presence had seemed to have the desired effect, as Teddy hadn't dared to visit the Mirror again.


	6. Plan of Action

_Not a lot happens in this chapter, I'm afraid, but it really needs to be here for plot reasons. Sassy Kreacher makes a brief appearance (do we all love him yet? I know I do.)_

* * *

Harry was still undecided as to whether getting Kreacher to trail Teddy was a good idea. On the one hand, he felt bad for not trusting Teddy, but on the other, Teddy hadn't actually promised that he wouldn't go back to the mirror. He had been trying to consider any loopholes that Kreacher may have identified and tried to exploit, and had come to the conclusion that there must be at least one, although he didn't know what. So really, he began to reason with himself, it hadn't been that bad, because Kreacher probably wasn't going to do it anyway.

So it was with a torn conscience that Harry continued on the next week. He knew Teddy and James would be back from Hogwarts at the end of the week which made him very excited and which made the week seem to be an extremely long one.

But finally, Saturday rolled around, and Harry woke early that morning. He hadn't been able to sleep. He had brewed some tea, eaten breakfast, showered and dressed and was waiting in the drawing room wondering what he could do to pass the day quickly. Maybe he could sneak upstairs to check on Teddy's present. He wondered if there was anything he could add to it, to make it even better. The same feeling of excitement that had caused him to rise so early this morning filled him again, expanding in his chest like a balloon. Teddy was going to love his Christmas present.

At this thought he realised that Teddy would be far too preoccupied with coming home to think about the mirror today so he probably didn't need Kreacher to keep a questionable eye on him today. He summoned the house-elf back to Grimmauld Place and asked him for news on Teddy, but Kreacher was reluctant to tell Harry anything.

"Nothing." He replied, after Harry had asked him what had happened during the week. Well, Harry had assumed, Kreacher obviously hadn't kept a very good eye on Teddy. He was cross at Kreacher's rudeness and brusque attitude, and obvious disregard for Harry's order.

"Nothing, _Master_." Harry curtly replied.

"It is kind of you to call Kreacher 'Master'." The house-elf replied with a sneer.

"I will banish you back to the Hogwarts kitchens if you keep this attitude, Kreacher!"

"Kreacher would like that." With that, Kreacher skulked out of the door. He was like a moody teenager, Harry thought. He remembered why he had sent Kreacher to Hogwarts in the first place. But he had another important job for Kreacher, and he had to be kind to him if he wanted Kreacher to acquiesce.

Harry left Kreacher to whatever it was he was going to do; probably try and find some final relic of the Blacks that he would be able to weep over. He would speak to him later, perhaps this afternoon, once they had picked the children up from the station. He really did have a very important task for Kreacher, and he had planned to ask him rather than order him to do it. He didn't want to order Kreacher to do it, but if he refused, Harry would have no choice.

The morning had dragged on, and it felt like days before Harry was gathering the rest of his family in the hallway ready to make the journey to Kings Cross to collect Teddy and James.

"Lily, dear, remember to get your hat as well!" Ginny had called up the stairs. She turned to help Albus into his coat. Harry was growing impatient, even though he knew they were going to be early to the station any way. Once his youngest child had come running down the stairs, complete with mittens and a bobble hat, Harry opened the door and the four of them trudged out. It was bitterly cold, but the sun shone and the warmth from the sun made a pleasant contrast to the cold chill in the air. Their breath floated in front of them forming a foggy mist as it mingled with the icy air. The grass in the square across the road from Grimmauld Place was crisp and covered in a thin film of shimmering white frost. They would walk to Kings Cross, as it really wasn't very far, and Harry would be able to help carry their luggage home. They probably wouldn't have much, as their trunks and most of their school things would be left at Hogwarts. From Grimmauld Place, Teddy would Floo home to his Grandmothers'. Harry was very excited to see both James and Teddy again.

The walk to the station was fairly short so they arrived with plenty of time to spare. They walked up to the wall between platforms nine and ten, and surreptitiously walked through the barrier to platform 9 ¾. They were lots of parents already waiting on the platform. The expectation and excitement hung heavy in the air. Harry had the same sense of anticipation as if he were about to board the Hogwarts Express himself to return to Hogwarts.

Eventually they began to hear the chugging of train wheels on the track and the distant whistle. The great scarlet steam train pulled into the station, exactly on time, with hundreds of grinning faces pressed against each window. As the train came to a stop, the doors opened and the station was filled with the shouts of children as they ran to find their parents. Harry watched through the thick smoke filling the crowded platform as parents embraced their children, and children waved goodbye to their friends. Greetings of 'we've missed you!', 'have you been good?' and 'what have you learnt?' from the parents as their children wished their friends Happy Christmas floated around Harry as he carried on looking eagerly towards the train. The parents gathered the bits of luggage from their children as one by one they passed back through the barrier and made their way home. The platform began to clear, and the smoke began to thin.

James was the last student off. He didn't have as much luggage as the rest of the students, but Teddy, who was in front of him, was carrying an extra bag, with the initials JSP on the front. James was scowling at Teddy, and a silent exchange took place between the two as they walked closer to Harry. He took James's bag from Teddy, along with another of Teddy's own bags, and after the greetings, hugs and the obligatory 'welcome home!', the group passed back through the barrier and left the station, walking home to Grimmauld Place.

On the walk home from the station, James dutifully told his mother about the classes he was enjoying, what he had been learning, that no, he hadn't got into much trouble -at which Harry gave him a disbelieving look and replied "that's not what I've heard"- and that yes, he was indeed up to date with his homework (thanks to Teddy, who felt responsible for his surrogate brother at Hogwarts, and had reminded him almost every night that he should get his homework done as soon as possible) Harry walked at the back with Teddy. He didn't know whether to ask Teddy about Kreacher. He decided he would try to mention it casually.

"So, how was the last week?" Harry apprehensively breeched the subject.

Teddy turned to look at him. "Fine, why?" Teddy replied suspiciously. Harry guessed he hadn't been as casual as he had hoped, and Teddy had noticed.

"Oh, nothing." He replied, shrugging his shoulder. "I was just wondering…"

"Yeah. I guess the elf was 'just wondering' too." Teddy replied tersely. He looked at Harry from the corner of his eye. "Sorry, Harry." He replied quickly, looking down. "I didn't mean to be rude."

"I was worried about you, that's why I…"

Teddy cut him off again. "I didn't go back to the mirror."

They continued home in silence, listening to James telling his mother all about what he had learnt so far, and trying to recount the ingredients needed in a potion that would cure boils.

"It was definitely some dried nettles, I can remember that, because one girl wouldn't pick them up without gloves on because she thought they would sting her. And I remember having to stew something, I think it was slugs, because I wasn't very good at it. Then there was some crushed dragon fangs, and then…" James had paused, and looked deep in thought, as if trying very hard to remember something he was sure he had forgotten. "You add something at the end, after you take it off the fire- not before, otherwise you'll melt your cauldron! But I can't remember what…"

Ginny nodded politely, but it was obvious she hadn't really been listening. James had barely stopped talking to take a breath since he had met them at the train station. It was difficult for Ginny to pay attention to it all. James's face was still screwed up in concentration.

"Porcupine quills." Teddy supplied.

"Yes!" Cried James. "That was it! Of course _you_ would know. I bet you didn't melt your cauldron, did you Teddy?" James teased. Teddy stuck his tongue out at him and playfully punched his shoulder.

"That's 10 points from Gryffindor for mocking a head boy, James!" He replied.

They had reached the front door of the house, and Ginny removed her wand from her sleeve and tapped the door. It opened, and the warmth from the house immediately hit them, and they rushed inside. As the children took off their coats and shoes, Teddy hovered by Harry, looking round.

"Is Kreacher here?" Teddy asked.

"Yes, why?" Now Harry was the suspicious one, but Teddy just nodded in response.

"Come on, Teddy! Your Grandmother will be desperate to see you." Ginny smiled at him as she led him to the fireplace in the kitchen. As they entered, Teddy saw a little bald head scurry into the pantry. Harry followed, carrying Teddy's bags. "You are coming for you tea tomorrow, aren't you?" Ginny asked.

Teddy nodded and thanked Ginny as Harry positioned his bags in the grate.

"See you tomorrow evening Teddy!" Harry patted him on the back as he handed him the pot of powder and after taking a pinch, Teddy climbed into the fireplace.

"Give our love to your Grandmother!" Called Ginny. Teddy threw the powder into the fire, clearly stated his Grandmother's address, and in a whirl of green flames, he was gone.

During dinner that evening, Harry had learnt from James that, yes, Kreacher had indeed kept a very close eye on Teddy, which surprised him. James had wanted to know why the house-elf had been following Teddy around all week, and Harry had told him that it had been a distraction as Kreacher was actually making sure James concentrated on his schoolwork and didn't pull any silly pranks. At this news, the colour in James's face visibly vanished and he looked as pale as a ghost. He didn't ask any more questions about Kreacher, fearing that he may have told Harry something he didn't want him to know.

Whilst they were clearing the plates away from dinner, Mrs Weasley flooed to Grimmauld Place. She appeared in the fireplace and immediately ran to hug James. She quickly waved hello to the rest of the family and then returned to give James the Spanish inquisition on how his term at Hogwarts had been. She had stopped by to discuss the plans for Christmas Day, which was just a week away, and it was arranged that they were to go to The Burrow. Mrs Weasley had invited them, and made it seem like it was something that was arranged there and then, but it was always the same each year, and Mrs Weasley would not have accepted any other answer than 'yes' when she asked them whether they would like to come. It turned out that she had been flooing between fireplaces since just after everyone arrived home from the Hogwarts Express, starting at Bill's, then to Charlie's, Percy's, George's, Ron's and now at Ginny's. Her final stop would be at Andromeda and Teddy's, who Mrs Weasley always said were 'as good as family', so naturally, they were invited to Christmas at The Burrow as well.

By the time Mrs Weasley left, the youngest children were looking sleepy. And although he wouldn't admit it, James's stifled yawns indicated that he was tired too. The three of them ascended the stairs tiredly, and Harry followed them. He decided that once he was sure they were all asleep, he would retreat back to the kitchen and seek out Kreacher.

Harry thought through his plan in his head. He knew every inch of the plan, had spent the whole of the last week preparing it with military precision. It all rested on Kreacher, though. He knew exactly what he would ask Kreacher, and he rehearsed the conversation over and over, reciting the lines as if from a play script. He wasn't keen on the plan himself. And he was sure Kreacher would never agree, but it was the best hope he had.

Kreacher slept under the boiler in the cupboard off the kitchen. Harry strolled over to the dingy door in the corner opposite the pantry and rapped on the door timidly with his knuckles but there was no reply. Kreacher did not emerge from behind the little door. Instead he crept around from behind one of the kitchen cupboards, cautiously looking to see who could possibly be knocking on the door to his den.

"Has Master Teddy gone?" Kreacher croaked.

"Yes. Why?" Harry asked, but Kreacher just nodded in response. "Kreacher." Harry took a deep breath. "I would like to ask you for a favour. It's to do with Teddy's Christmas present. I'm not sure you'll like the idea, but it's the only way, and it's quite important."


	7. How The Muggle Half Live

_It's December which means its finally acceptable to be excited for Christmas! So here is the first (of probably several) Christmas themed chapters! If you're looking for all the angst-y stuff, there might not be much in the next few chapters. Christmas is just too exciting. Enjoy!_

_p.s. You'll have to wait to find out why Harry needed Kreacher's help. Sorry. So cruel._

* * *

The family had gathered at the Burrow for Christmas Dinner. Despite the fact all the children had left, The Burrow still looked like a real family home- cluttered, chaotic but cosy. And now, under the merry blanket of Christmas Spirit, it looked even more homely. Mr Weasley had decorated the tree, gathered the presents underneath it, wrapped tinsel around the banister, hung a wreath on the front door, decked the garden with dubious looking Reindeer, Santa Claus and Snowmen figures, adorned the hearth and the fireplace with gaudy sparkly ornaments, and dangled strings of muggle fairy lights from the ceiling (they weren't alight, however, and Harry wondered if Mr Weasley knew that they should have been) and Mrs Weasley had wrapped the bacon around the sausages, stuffed the turkey, roasted the parsnips and the chestnuts, made the gravy, and prepared all the potatoes, the stuffing, the sauces, the cabbage and the squashes ready for the Christmas Dinner- all without magic. Or so they had said. Harry was extremely impressed. It was a lot of work, and he had offered Kreacher's services multiple times, but they had refused.

The kitchen now was a very hectic hive of activity. Mrs Weasley, still intent on a magic-free Christmas, was looking stressed. She waved a wooden spoon around like a wand while she opened several cupboards under the counter. "Where is that turkey fat squeezy, for goodness sake! I had it this morning! I had to buy it from a muggle shop! Arthur's probably hung it from the ceiling like some kind of ornament, now where is it…" She continued on, but Harry had spotted the object in question across the other side of the room.

He held his wand out. "Accio… turkey baster?" It was perhaps the least eloquent spell Harry had ever cast, but still it worked, and the turkey baster shot into Harry's hand. He held it over to Mrs Weasley, and she hit Harry on the arm with her wooden spoon. "No Harry, no magic!" She shouted, taking both the object and Harry's wand from him. "But thank you, dear. A turkey baster, is that what you called it?" She replied as she turned her back to him to carry on with whatever it was she was doing now, and putting Harry's wand into her apron pocket.

The children had been called into the kitchen to peel and chop the carrots and prepare the sprouts. Andromeda Tonks was stood by the stove top, along with Rose and Lily, and was stirring a wooden spoon around a saucepan. Harry looked along the Weasley's long kitchen table, where the rest of the children had been stationed, and saw at the end two sprouts floating in mid-air, seemingly preparing themselves. James. Harry concentrated hard, and cast a wordless and wandless Waddiwasi charm. The sprouts turned in the air and hit James square in the forehead, one after the other. Harry felt a small rush of pride as he admired his ability to perform wandless magic- even if it was just a simple charm.

"Ow!" muttered James, rubbing his head. He looked up to see if anyone had noticed and saw his Dad grinning at him. James scowled back. Harry walked over to him and took James' wand, which he held in his hand hidden under the table, and whispered, "No James, no magic!"

Harry wandered back into the living room. The kitchen, he thought, seemed a little off limits at the moment. The sofas had been moved away and in their place were two extremely long tables, one for the adults, and one for the children. Now that the Weasley family had extended so much, it was difficult for them all to get together, but Mrs Weasley refused to have it any other way. Hermione was walking around the table laying down placemats, and Ginny followed adding the knives and forks. Fleur was busy folding napkins. Ron and Bill knelt by the fireplace prodding the logs in it and waving something small around in the air.

"I would light it, Bill, if I bloody knew how! What does this stick thing even do?" Ron sounded annoyed.

"I've seen these before, muggles just rub it on something and then fire comes out of the end." Bill replied calmly.

Harry went over to help them. "Do you still have the box?" He asked, taking the bent match from Ron. Bill handed the little cardboard box over to Harry, who slid out another match. "You can't just rub it on anything." Harry told them. "You have to rub it on something that causes friction. Here, like this on the side of the box." He turned the box to show them the piece of sandpaper on the side, and pulled the match across it. Red flames burst from the match, but Harry shook it and the flame went out. "See." He said, handing the box back to them.

"How old-fashioned! And this is what muggles use to light fires?" Bill asked.

"I don't know why Mum went along with Dad's suggestion for a muggle Christmas." Ron said.

Ron and Bill both copied Harry's demonstration and Bill managed to get his match to light. He threw it onto the logs while Ron tried to light his match again, after snapping the first. Eventually, they managed to get the hang of lighting the matches, and threw more and more into the fireplace, but the logs didn't seem to be igniting.

"This is hopeless. Here, Bill, move out of the way." Ron moaned. He pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed it towards the fire, but Bill grabbed it out of his hands.

"No Ron, no magic!" He said. Ron sighed moodily, and he returned to the matches.

Harry chuckled under his breath, and carried on to the family room. The tree looked fantastic; covered in golds and reds. Teddy was perched precariously on a chair and leaning over the Christmas tree, and Mr Weasley was looking baffled.

"I can't get it to stay on the top. It just falls off." Teddy complained. On closer inspection, Harry could see that Teddy was holding a large golden star which he was trying to attach to the top of the tree.

"Really? Do you think I forgot something from the muggle shop? Do you think there is something else I was supposed to get to make it stay on the tree?" Mr Weasley said.

"It should just slide over the top of the tree's branch." Harry offered. Teddy stretched his arm as far as he could but he couldn't quite reach the tree's topmost branch. The tree swayed a little as Teddy lent against it.

"It's no use." Teddy stepped back carefully onto the chair and away from the tree as Harry and Mr Weasley tried to steady it.

"Oh, come here." Mr Weasley groaned. He drew his wand from out of his robes and pointed it at the star that Teddy was holding, but Teddy was too quick, and had wrapped his hand around the end of the wand.

"No Mr Weasley, no magic!" Teddy laughed, and with a sigh of defeat, Mr Weasley let go of his wand and Teddy took it from him. Teddy got down off the chair, moved it as close as he could to the tree, and tried again to put the star on the top.

Harry left them to it. He went outside, and the icy air hit him and made him shiver. He could see two people near the back of the garden, kneeling on the ground. He began to walk over to them. They had dug a hole in the ground, and were now trying to get something to stick into it. It looked like they had already done a couple across the lawn, as Harry could see small mounds of mud and strange shaped sticks dotted here and there. As he got closer he saw one figure, George, pull out a wand from his back pocket.

"No George, no magic!" James grabbed George's wand out of his hand.

"James!" Harry chided, coming up behind them.

"No Harry, James does have a point. Funny, these muggle fireworks. They look like they could be a bit dangerous- I could lose an ear! Do they set them off by hand?" George asked incredulously.

"Yes. They light them with a match."

"A what?!"

"Ask Ron and Bill." Harry laughed, and then turned to his son. "Did you finish the sprouts already, James?"

"Well, I finished preparing all MY sprouts."

"And what about your brother?"

"He seemed to have quite a lot of sprouts left to prepare, actually." James grinned mischievously. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Come on James, we need to have all the fireworks ready to go before the food is ready. Then we'll be able to light them straight after dinner. And now we need to do them all without magic… Why does Dad have to be obsessed with muggles!" He moaned.

"Oh, how the muggle half lives." Harry replied.

"Right then, grab that spade, we'll dig another space for the next one." He heard George tell James as Harry begun to walk back to the warmth of the house. As he got nearer the door, he heard a faint crash, and he went to investigate where the noise had come from.

A bauble lay shattered on the floor. Hundreds of tiny, glittery glass flakes were scattered across the living room rug.

"Oh don't worry, dear." Ginny was telling Hugo. "We can fix that!" She reached into her pocket for her wand, and as she pointed it at the shattered bauble on the floor, Charlie, who had also come to find out what the commotion had been, seized it from her grasp.

"No Ginny, no magic!" Charlie said. He went to fetch a broom so that they could sweep the broken bauble pieces up- without magic- and Hugo apologised again, his cheeks turning pink.

"Surely muggles don't repair these by hand?! I mean, look at it! It's ruined!" Ginny said, turning to Harry, who remembered the time he had been made to sweep seven shattered baubles from the floor when Dudley had thrown them across the living room at Privet Drive in an angry rage. He didn't remember why though- probably because he didn't get as many roast potatoes on his Christmas dinner as he had the previous year.

From the kitchen emerged several of the children carrying silver serving dishes piled high with various different Christmas trimmings. Andromeda followed, carrying two huge gravy boats, and finally, Mrs Weasley proudly emerged last, with the turkey held in front of her like a magnificent trophy.

"Harry, dear." She called. "Do tell everyone that dinner is served!"


	8. A Very Muggle Christmas

After a few minutes, everyone was sitting around the two tables. The food was steaming and the smells mingled together and made Harry's mouth water. It smelled delicious.

Mr Weasley spoke. "This looks lovely, dear. Shall we dig in?" Happy chatter spread around the table as Mr Weasley stood up to carve the turkey. The whole spread of food looked tremendous- better than a Hogwarts feast.

"You're very good at that, Arthur! I remember when we went to Ted's parents' house for Christmas, Ted's father would always get Ted to use magic to carve the turkey. He said he found it too complicated." Andromeda said.

"I've been practising!" Replied Mr Weasley proudly.

Plates were passed around the table as Mr Weasley distributed out slices of turkey. The clatter of spoons on serving dishes and the occasional clink of glasses were dispersed with murmurings of 'smells delicious!' and 'looks lovely, mum'. Mrs Weasley's seat was empty as she stood fussing around the children sat at the other table. She had her hand resting on Teddy's shoulder, and she smiled down at him. Teddy had his back to Harry, and Harry was reminded of how he had found Teddy in front of the Mirror of Erised. He also noted how he still had his light brown hair- perhaps it was so that he would look more like his father. He smiled sadly, but then remembered the Christmas present he had ready for Teddy, and tried to cheer himself up a bit. It was Christmas, after all!

"I think a muggle Christmas is a lovely idea, Mr Weasley. It really reminds me of all the Christmas' I had before I'd ever even heard of Hogwarts!" Hermione smiled at Mr Weasley.

"Thank you Hermione! I'm glad someone thinks it's a good idea." He looked down the table at his children disparagingly.

Talk of Hogwarts, The Ministry, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Christmases past, Muggle Christmas traditions and Mrs Weasley's tremendous food eventually turned to the sadly departed guests missing from the table. It was happy, though, as everyone shared their favourite memories.

"Sirius was always so sulky when we would get together for meals like this, he'd take an age eating his dinner, then sneak off somewhere to finish it anyway!" Someone had said.

"Do you remember how we always snuck extra spoonfuls of potato and vegetables onto Remus' plate whenever he came over for dinner? The poor devil never ate anything!"

"I don't think I ever saw Tonks leave any carrots- she loved them! She could eat for England!"

"Sounds like our Fred!"

The chatter continued on like this, and every now and then the table would fall silent except for the scraping of knives and forks on plates as everyone quietly reminisced.

Over on the children's table, however, there was only one topic of conversation- as always, it was Hogwarts. James could be heard boasting of his latest pranks at Hogwarts, and how he would be sure to let Fred join him when he arrived at the school. The girls talked together about the different potions they couldn't wait to make when they finally went. And Teddy was quietly trying to listen to the conversation on the adult table. He thought he'd heard someone mention 'Remus' and 'Tonks', but as he couldn't pick out their names in the conversation again, he thought he was probably wrong.

After dinner was finished, everyone began to stack the empty plates and Ron and Harry offered to carry them into the kitchen- a job they would have usually done by a simple levitating spell, but as they were now wandless, they had to resort to the muggle way. Mrs Weasley and Andromeda rose from the table as well, gathering the serving dishes and clearing them off the table as well. Teddy had begun to clear away the children's table, and followed Ron and Harry into the kitchen with his stack of plates.

They all piled the dirty crockery onto the kitchen table. There was a lot of washing up, and Harry wondered if Mr and Mrs Weasley were really planning on doing it all without magic. As he opened his mouth to offer Kreacher's services again, Mrs Weasley, who had been fussing over something on the stove, turned to look at them with a triumphant look on her face. Held in front of her on a platter was a ginormous Christmas Pudding. She set it onto an empty corner of the table and began to pour generous lashings of firewhiskey over it. Harry and Ron stared at her, wide-eyed, wondering if she had gone mad. She looked up at their shocked faces.

"This is how the muggles do it!" She reassured them. Harry wasn't sure he had ever seen Aunt Petunia pour alcohol over a Christmas cake. With that, she stoppered the firewhiskey with a cork and picked up the platter to carry the pudding into the other room.

A sharp intake of breath could be heard as everyone around the tables gasped in awe at the impressive cake. Mrs Weasley set it in front of Mr Weasley, who was sat at the head of the table. He stood up and moved his chair aside so that Mrs Weasley could also stand in front of the pudding, then she turned to Bill and asked, "Bill, dear, where are the matches?"

Bill stared at her as if she had just asked him to tickle a troll. "Erm," He gulped. "Why?"

"Oh, just pass me the matches!" Mrs Weasley waved her hand at him to dismiss his comment, and obediently, Bill picked up the box of matches from the mantelpiece and silently passed them to his mother. "Now, children, come over here, you'll never see from there!" She called. The children did as they were told, perhaps too intrigued as to what it was exactly that they wouldn't be able to see to bother questioning her. Mrs Weasley had a giddy smile on her face as she plucked a match from the box and dragged it across the sandpaper edge.

A flame burst from the end of the match, and the group held a collective breath. The silence in the room was eerie- it would have been possible to hear a feather drop. Mrs Weasley slowly lowered the match to the Christmas pudding. Pale blue flames licked around the pudding, causing a very pretty sight, and everyone smiled at it, pleasantly surprised. But suddenly, the flames grew larger, and changed to purples, and greens, and bright red flames, engulfing the pudding. Mrs Weasley shrieked. The pudding was now a great blazing ball of multi-coloured fire. Mrs Weasley continued to shriek, Mr Weasley looked as equally shocked, and the guests gathered around the table tried to move away from the flaming pudding. Andromeda Tonks pulled out her wand and quickly waved it at the pudding, muttering a simple 'reducto' spell, and the flames died down, until eventually, they burnt out completely.

"No, Mrs Tonks," Hugo began, stretching out his hand, but Hermione locked eyes with him and shook her head. Hugo lowered his hand. The room fell into silence.

"Merlin!" Mr Weasley said, breaking the silence. He removed his glasses and wiped the lenses. "Wasn't that exciting!" He said cheerily, putting his glasses back on. The guests were far too shocked to reply, but all silently nodded.

"That must be why they call it firewhiskey." Ron added.

The Christmas Pudding was a peculiar shape- now more of a mound than a dome, but everyone was far too polite to say anything. And despite it having been engulfed in flames just minutes before, it tasted delicious.

"I shall let that little bit of magic slide, Andromeda." Mrs Weasley smiled at her guest over the table, who laughed. Noting Mrs Weasley's reaction to the mishap, the silence lifted and the table returned to its usual chatter.

After the dishes were cleared away, George was ordered outside by Mrs Weasley to light the fireworks. George was rather hesitant at having to play with the matches and 'muggle fire', given what had happened with the pudding, but Bill, who had gotten the hang of the matches quite well, offered to help. The family all filed outside onto the small patio area to watch the fireworks. It was difficult to move on the patio, somewhat due to the large number of people huddled there, but also in part due to the sheer volume of plastic Reindeer and Santa figures that stood unsettlingly about the place, with a somewhat haunting look in their plastic eyes.

After the fireworks, gifts were exchanged, and despite it being a muggle Christmas, most of the gifts were magical or had been enchanted in some way. Several items the children received were not however; amongst their gifts they received books and colouring crayons and items of clothing that would not look out of place beneath a muggle Christmas tree. Hermione had even bought several of the children books by muggle authors such as Beatrix Potter, Hans Christian Anderson and The Brothers Grimm.

But Mr and Mrs Weasley had really gone to town on muggle Christmas presents- Harry imagined Mr Weasley had been like a child in a toyshop when he and Mrs Weasley had gone shopping in the 'Muggle shop' they kept talking about. Amongst their haul were yoyos and bouncy balls, some small figures that you would wind up by hand and then they would move by themselves, a 'Pooing Reindeer' that would excrete chocolate covered raisins when the tail was pulled- which George found entirely hilarious- some sort of stones wrapped in paper that would snap when thrown at the floor. Then some small cars that you would pull back and let go and they would shoot off by themselves, some sticks that looked like magic wands that when snapped would glow luminous colours, a peculiar spring that could somehow climb down the stairs, a furry toy that would climb over the holder's fingers, a tube you could look through and see strange shapes and patterns. Then there was some liquid in a pot which came with a small instrument with holes in. When dipped into the liquid and blown, they would form shimmery orbs, which would float in the air, then pop. Teddy particularly liked the funny muggle coins wrapped in a thin gold coloured foil that were solid chocolate underneath.

"Honestly, they've invented their own form of magic!" Mr Weasley would continually cry in awe, his eyes wide. Every now and then, Hermione and Harry would share a knowing look- glowsticks, Slinkys, Kaleidoscopes and bubbles were not as awe-inspiring to people who had lived eleven years as a fully-fledged muggle.

George had given almost everyone prototype products from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and Harry noticed he and James in deep discussion over several of the items James had received. Harry had bought Mr Weasley a rubber duck that had been enchanted to blow bubbles into the bathwater. The idea was that this rubber duck definitely did have a purpose, albeit a bit of a pointless one. He and Ginny had also bought George a magic eight ball- a muggle toy that was supposedly a fortune-telling device. George was fascinated and began to think of the strangest questions he could ask it, and each time, it was able to answer him. Harry knew how it worked, but didn't want to burst George's bubble. Mr Weasley, however, had been quick to tell George, "don't trust anything if you can't see where it keeps its brain!"

There were a number of lumpy parcels stacked under the tree and they were passed out to every member of the party. Everyone opened them together, and everyone already knew what they were without unwrapping them. Mrs Weasley's thick, hand-knitted sweaters. She made sure everyone put them on right away and the group looked around at each other to admire the jumpers. The girls all had pastel pink and the boys had pastel blue pullovers with their initials stitched into them, whilst Victoire had a luminous purple sweater with buttons down the centre and Teddy had a vibrant turquoise jumper with what could have been a wolf on it. He smiled at Mrs Weasley, who offered a meaningful smile and a wink back. The adults too had different styled sweaters with different emblems on the front. Harry could only see a few- Ron's was a maroon jumper with a broomstick on the front, Hermione's a green one with a wand, Ginny's a horrific yellow with a golden snitch, and Harry's own sweater was a deep navy with a repeating lightning bolt design all over it. George's sweater was blue with a large yellow 'F' for 'Forge' on the front, and he wore it proudly.

"Oh!" Mr Weasley suddenly remembered, and he climbed up from his chair and went into the other room. He came back in holding a small cardboard box. "The final bit of muggle magic!" He grinned as he held the box aloft. He began to hand the contents out to the guests. Everyone was in awe of the little tubs they had received, and were wondering what to do with it, and Mr Weasley too, it seemed, was a bit unsure of how to work it.

"I didn't like to ask too many questions in the shop…" He was scratching his head, turning the plastic tub over in his hand. "I think it has something to do with this." He held it by a small string and began to swing it about. Looking down at the object in his own hand, Harry smiled to himself when he realised that it was a party popper. He looked over to Hermione. Holding the plastic part in the air, Harry pulled on the string and the party popper let out a loud 'crack', similar to the sound of someone apparating, and hundreds of coloured strings flew from the end, landing partly on George's shoulder and partly all over the floor. Mrs Weasley jumped and let out a small squeal, and the children grinned in appreciation. "That's it, Harry!" Mr Weasley called. Harry began to instruct Mr Weasley how the object worked, and within minutes, most of the party poppers had been popped and the contents lay strewn all over the floor and across the lights.

The family gathered in the family room once all the presents had been opened. The children were playing together with their new gifts and the adults lounged quietly on the sofas. Mince pies that Hermione had made were being passed around, along with glasses of Butterbeer and Mead. Celestina Warbeck, Mrs Weasley's favourite singer, was blaring from the large wooden wireless, sounding further past her best than usual, and Harry imagined that she was probably a great age by now. He began to wonder how many times they had left to listen to her.

Mrs Weasley came bustling into the family room. She had been busy preparing turkey sandwiches for supper later, despite everyone's best efforts to get her to relax for a minute. She stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the adults.

"I must say, I am a little disappointed in some of you." She scolded. "A magic-free Christmas!" She looked disapprovingly at four members of the group. She pulled four sticks of wood from her apron pocket and handed back out the confiscated wands; Bill, Charlie, Harry and Hermione. And, grinning to each other, they each handed back the wands they themselves had confiscated; Ron, Ginny and James. James handed George back his wand. Everyone laughed at the shocked look on Mrs Weasley's face- clearly, more people had tried to use magic than she had thought.

Teddy, who had been playing with the bubbles with Lily on the floor, stood up. Very dramatically, he walked across the room and pulled out two wands from his belt loops, and presented them to their owners.

"Arthur!" Accused Mrs Weasley. "A muggle Christmas was your idea!"

"Molly!" Mr Weasley gasped in return.

Teddy grinned. "I caught her using magic to stuff the turkey."

"Teddy!" She scolded, her face turning bright red. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" Everyone laughed. She pulled a final wand from her apron pocket and handed it back to Teddy. "Well, there's no way muggles do that by hand, it was disgusting!"

Harry turned to Hermione, who was sat on his right. "Hermione, I didn't expect you to use magic!" he laughed.

"I was trying to help wash up some of the pots and pans." Hermione shamefully admitted.

"But mum even wants to do that without magic!" Ron chimed in.

The room filled with talk as everyone shared their stories of the things they had to do as a muggle. Ron's story of trying to light the fire with matches became more and more elaborate as the flames from the match became more and more unmanageable, and eventually Ron's story involved him discarding the matches altogether and somehow lighting the fire with his bare hands.

After all the festivities, and after most of the children had almost dozed off, it was decided that everyone should start making their way home. Arrangements were made for the following day. Andromeda Tonks had plans to visit her sister, Narcissa. After the war and the loss of their sister Bellatrix, the two remaining sisters had tried to be civil to each other, and as such, Narcissa had reluctantly invited her sister over for lunch on Boxing Day. Teddy however, as the son of a werewolf, was not invited. He was instead going to Grimmauld Place, where he was always welcome. Hermione and Ron were also going to Grimmauld Place as Hermione's parents were celebrating Christmas skiing in the Alps. Bill was going to his in-laws, as was George, and whist Harry had politely invited Percy, he had said he had other commitments. Mr and Mrs Weasley were of course going to Grimmauld Place and Mrs Weasley offered to bring round her leftovers from dinner. Harry was glad of this; since he had invited Kreacher back, he wasn't sure he was completely forgiven- Kreacher had made sure to burn most of the food he had cooked so far and his idea of cleaning a room was shutting the door. Harry didn't know whether Kreacher was still bitter about the removal of Mrs Black's portrait or whether he hadn't enjoyed looking after Teddy.

During the goodbyes, Harry grabbed Teddy by the arm and pulled him to one side. "Teddy," He began quietly. "I couldn't really bring your Christmas present today. It's at Grimmauld Place, so if you come over early tomorrow you can have it then." Harry tried to fight back a grin, but it was no use. Teddy was going to love his present.

Teddy looked at Harry with an apprehensive look.

"Does it involve Kreacher?" Teddy asked.

Harry laughed. He wasn't sure what had happened in the last week at Hogwarts, but from the way Kreacher and Teddy spoke about each other, he guessed it hadn't gone well.

"No." He reassured Teddy. "It does not involve Kreacher."


	9. Christmas at Grimmauld Place

_Less than one week to Christmas! Who wants an early Christmas present from me? I have the next 3 (!) chapters pretty much written and ready to go. Anyone want me to upload them before Christmas?_

_P.S. Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing & following & favouriting (is that a word?)! If I was at all good at using this website I would reply to the reviews but I am useless and can't, sorry! But I really like hearing what people think about this story and I'm really glad people like it enough to follow it._

_Enjoy Chapter Nine! Now we FINALLY find out what Teddy's present is. (Is anyone surprised by what it is, really?)_

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Teddy arrived at Grimmauld Place late in the morning. Despite how intrigued he felt about Harry's present, he was still a teenager after all, and downright refused to leave his bed earlier than he had to. Especially on Boxing Day. In fact it was a miracle he was out of bed before lunch. It wasn't that he had been asleep, but his bed had been so warm and the room so cold he wanted to postpone putting himself through the agony of having to leave the toasty comfort of under his quilt for as long as possible. His Grandmother had brought Teddy a cup of tea before she left to go to her sister's for lunch and he knew this had just been her thinly veiled motivation for Teddy to finally get up. He had taken his wand from off his bedside table and used a simple 'Accio!' spell to summon his clothes to him. He awkwardly got changed under his quilt, still in the warmth, but it had not been as successful as he had hoped, and when he finally rolled out, the bed sheet was tucked into the waistband of his trousers, holding him back, and he gracefully tripped straight onto his face, landing on the floor with a thud.

"You are supposed to be at Grimmauld Place." A voice croaked out from beside Teddy's bedroom door. He snapped around to identify the figure who had spoken. He knew his Grandmother had already left, so it couldn't be her. And besides, she definitely didn't have a hoarse, deep voice like a bullfrog's…

"Go away Kreacher!" Teddy groaned. Why did Harry keep sending the miserable little house-elf to check up on him?! "Tell Harry I'm coming now. Merlin!" He exclaimed.

But Kreacher didn't leave. Instead he walked over to Teddy, who was still crumpled in a chaotic heap with his bed sheets, and grabbed his wrist. With a sudden _crack_, Teddy felt himself jerking away from his bedroom, being pulled this way and that, before he landed heavily on the cold stone floor of Harry's kitchen in front of the fireplace. Kreacher had disappeared.

Harry had been sitting at his table with his youngest child, eating some porridge and reading the Daily Prophet. Lily had been colouring with some of her new crayons, but both looked over at the sudden, noisy arrival of the dishevelled metamorphmagus spread on the floor.

"Hello." Harry said, after a moment of stunned silence. "Practising apparition?" Harry tried to hold back a laugh. His clumsy arrival had reminded Harry so much of Teddy's mother.

"No! It was your stupid elf coming to get me!" Teddy moaned, getting off the floor and rubbing the arm that he had landed on. "Why can't he leave me alone?!" He brushed himself off, straightened his shirt and shook his head, aware of the messy state his hair must be in. He scrunched his forehead and tried to discreetly morph it to a neater style.

"Kreacher?" Harry asked, puzzled. He didn't tell Kreacher to collect Teddy. "I didn't send him."

This surprised Teddy. Did he come of his own accord? That didn't seem like Kreacher. Teddy didn't think they were exactly friends, were they? He didn't feel that Kreacher would want to be his friend. Their relationship was more 'mutual irritation'.

In fact, Teddy and Kreacher hadn't spoken after the last day of term. Late on Saturday morning when Teddy woke, Kreacher hadn't been waiting moodily at the end of his bed as usual, so Teddy had to get ready, eat breakfast and walk down to the station to catch the Hogwarts Express without the house-elf, which his friends were glad of, but made Teddy a little sad. However, Teddy did feel a bit guilty; he had Astronomy on a Friday evening at midnight and Kreacher had begrudgingly accompanied him to that lesson just like he had all the rest. It was late, and they were studying the moon in detail (which Teddy had little trouble with), and it was exceptionally boring. Teddy felt tired, as did Kreacher, who had been leaning on Teddy's telescope half asleep. Whenever Teddy had tried to focus his telescope, Kreacher would fidget about and the telescope would move. As payback, Teddy began to poke Kreacher each time his eyes started to droop. He'd look round, scowl at Teddy, and try to fall back to sleep, only to be poked by Teddy again. Teddy thought this had been the final straw for Kreacher.

Harry finished his porridge and stood up to carry his dish over to the sink. Teddy always liked it when Harry seemed to forget momentarily that he was a wizard, and did little muggle things like that. He could have quite easily vanished the bowl, or levitated it over to the sink, but he chose not to. Teddy went to sit next to Lily, to see what she was colouring, and ruffled her hair. She scowled at him before tucking some stray hairs back behind her ear. "I was going to show you my new Hippogriff toy, Teddy. But now I don't think I will." She huffed, and Teddy chuckled.

"Can I show you your present?" Harry asked eagerly. Teddy laughed. Shouldn't he be the one asking?

They walked upstairs from the basement kitchen. As they reached the hallway by the front door, they turned to ascend up the next flight, but there, stood at the foot of the stairs, was Kreacher. He was eyeing Teddy's tidy hair, and Teddy now noticed that the bit of rag tied like a loin cloth Kreacher wore was clean, which he had missed in the dark of his bedroom.

"Kreacher." Teddy greeted him.

"Master Teddy." Replied Kreacher, as if the previous events of the morning hadn't happened.

A smile played at the edges of Teddy's lips, which didn't go unnoticed by Harry. Perhaps there wasn't so much animosity between them after all, Harry thought. As they walked up the first few stairs, Teddy leant over the banister and patted Kreacher on the head. Kreacher glared at him and skulked off to the living room whilst grumbling under his breath.

Harry and Teddy entered the library on the second floor. The wintery light flooded in through the window, and the bright room made a pleasant contrast to the dark hallway and staircase. Harry moved to stand in the centre of the library, and beckoned Teddy to follow. He turned to face him, tapping his wand on his fingertips, a serious expression on his face.

"Now, Teddy. As I am sure you are aware, I returned to Hogwarts at the end of term to teach a class on Patronuses to the seventh years." Harry had adopted a very stern, professor-like tone of voice, and he could see Teddy smirking at his formality. "You however, Mr Lupin, were absent from said class. As the teacher, I feel it is my duty to ensure you are equipped with the knowledge on how to produce a Patronus should you ever be in the unfortunate position of being faced with…" Teddy groaned, and Harry was a little put out.

"Oh, Harry!" Teddy cried. "Don't say my Christmas present is a Defence against the Dark Arts lesson! I'm sure you're a brilliant teacher, but its Christmas!"

Harry paused and tried to look upset. It was difficult with the knowledge of what Teddy's Christmas present actually was.

"Well, Teddy, it was actually. But I guess if you don't want it…" He turned his back on Teddy and grinned to himself.

"No, Harry. I'm really sorry!" Teddy was backtracking, obviously feeling guilty for how impolite he had been. "Ok. Come on, let's go!" Harry turned around to see Teddy pulling out his wand from his pocket, his face eager.

"Well, no. I am a little hurt. I'm not sure I want to teach you about them anymore…" Harry was toying with Teddy.

Teddy's face dropped. "I didn't mean it Harry! Honest!" He apologised, and Harry couldn't take much more- he just wanted to give Teddy his present.

He face split into a grin. "Ok. But _I _won't teach you." Harry stressed the 'I'. He walked to the corner of the room to a stone basin set on top of a pedestal that had otherwise gone unnoticed, and beckoned Teddy to follow. A silvery light, dancing and shimmering on the walls, shined brightly from within. The basin had odd carvings around the edge; runes and symbols that Teddy did not recognise. It was filled with a strange substance- not quite liquid, but not quite gas. It was a bright, whiteish silver and it was moving ceaselessly; the surface of it became ruffled like water beneath wind, and then, like clouds, it separated and swirled smoothly. Was it light made liquid, or wind made solid? Teddy couldn't make up his mind.

"Harry, is this a Pensieve?! Aren't these really rare-" Teddy began to ask, but Harry pushed something into his hands.

He had presented Teddy with a small glass vial labelled 'Patronuses' and instructed him to pour the liquid into the basin. He then told Teddy to gently nudge the contents with his wand. The surface of the silvery stuff began to swirl very fast, and it became transparent, like glass. Harry told Teddy to bend close to the basin and lower his face so that his nose touched the glassy substance.

"Are you…" Teddy hesitated. "Are you coming, too?"

"I'll be here, Teddy, but I won't come into the memory with you." Harry replied softly. He didn't really want to relive his memory again, especially not with Teddy. The memories in the Pensieve always seemed so real…

Teddy nodded, and leant over the basin, until his face was submerged in the strange substance and he felt himself thrown forwards and pitched headfirst into Harry's memory. He was falling through something icy cold and black; it was like being sucked into a dark whirlpool-

And suddenly, Teddy found himself stood just inside the door of a classroom; one he knew to be a Hogwarts classroom.

A ray of wintery sunlight fell across the classroom. It illuminated the lines on the young face of a man he instantly recognised from photos and from the Mirror of Erised. His father. He was speaking to another boy, but Teddy didn't even bother to take in the other figure in the room. It was his father, _his father_, there, in front of him! Here he was, in the flesh, in the same room.

_"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them. Even muggles…"_

Teddy was paying no attention to what he was saying. He was just listening to his voice, his Dad's voice, a voice he never imagined to hear. It was a voice he had never heard, yet somehow he felt an immense pull to it, an inviolable familiarity, a feeling like Teddy was home. Safe. Despite forever wondering what his father's voice really sounded like, he recognised it immediately.

It was soft, yet confident. He was well spoken, and Teddy realised why everyone said his father had been their favourite teacher- he could captivate an audience, his voice had an almost esteemed, revered quality to it. He listened to the subtle nuances, the way his voice would rise and fall, how he would stress certain syllables, the faint lilt of an accent. His voice flooded like molten lava into Teddy's ears, overtaking every inch of his brain, until all he could think about and all he could hear was his Dad's voice. To Teddy, it felt hallowed. Was everyone's voice this fascinating?! Teddy had never noticed before- but then, he had never longed quite so earnestly to hear someone speak as much before.

Then something very odd happened very briefly. The room was filled with a thick white fog, through which Teddy could see nothing, and the voices became muffled. Had he been paying more attention, Teddy may have found it strange. But almost as suddenly as it had appeared, the fog cleared, and the two figures continued talking as if nothing unusual had happened. Teddy was too preoccupied to realise, and so he barely noticed the missing part of the conversation. Harry had tampered with his own recollection a little- he decided that Teddy probably didn't need to know about what he really heard when the Dementors came near him.

"_There are- certain defences one can use. But there was only one Dementor on the train. The more there are, the more difficult it becomes to resist."_

Teddy often imagined what his father would say when he told him things; told him about his day, about his school work, about his teachers. He wondered what he would say to praise Teddy, to chastise Teddy. And he'd often imagined in his head pretend conversations with his parents that he knew he'd never have. The voice he was hearing now was the voice he always imagined his father would have. He had so desired to hear it, yet he had known it all this time.

_ "I don't pretend to be an expert at fighting Dementors, Harry- quite the contrary…"_

Emotions welled inside of Teddy and overflowed out of his mouth. "Dad!" He cried in a kind of strangled whisper, more to himself than anything. He couldn't make out the figures anymore; his eyes were filled with the tears he was trying so desperately to hold back.

_"Well… all right. I'll try and help."_

Then the voice stopped. The memory had fallen silent. The figures in the memory were fading, and Teddy felt himself being pulled away, blackness surrounding him. Had he broken it? Was he not supposed to interact with the memories? Or was that it? He wondered. And it dawned on him that he hadn't been listening. What had his father been saying?! He always wished his father could have taught him something, ever since Harry had taught him how to ride a broom, Ron had taught him how to catch Garden Gnomes, George had taught him his first spell, Mr Weasley had taught him how to tie his school tie. 'My Dad taught me.' It was a phrase so many of his friends at school used so freely, yet it made Teddy's heart ache dully each time someone said it in passing. And now his one chance to learn something from his father and he had blown it being so emotional. Had he said something about Dementors? Teddy knew what they were, but what did they have to do with Patronuses?! He hoped he would be able to watch this memory again. He couldn't believe how stupid he felt- Harry had tried to help him, and he had gone soft just at hearing his Dad speak.

He dried his eyes on his sleeve and blinked the tears away. Was he crying because of the memory, or because he had been so stupid and messed everything up? He didn't know. But then he noticed that he was not back in Harry's library- he was stuck in a sort of memory limbo. Before Teddy could gather any more real thoughts, another scene formed slowly in the darkness, the surroundings gradually fading into view, becoming clearer and coming into focus.

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_a quick note... the speech in Italic is lifted straight from Prisoner of Azkaban (due to the nature of the chapter and the whole reliving-Harry's-memory thing it was kind of necessary) _


	10. The Patronus

_Super long one today. Same as before; the speech in italics is straight from Prisoner of Azkaban. I hope this doesn't just seem like a repeat of the chapter in POA that it was based on (again, because it's Harry's memory its kind of hard to make it something completely new). Let me know what you think! _

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Teddy was stood in a corridor in Hogwarts. In front of him walked a boy, a couple of years younger than Teddy, with black hair that stuck up in several places. He had a familiar walk- confident, but at the same time hesitant. Almost like he knew where he was going, but he wasn't sure he wanted to go. It was Harry. It was strange- it all felt so real. Teddy really felt like he was behind a young Harry walking down a Hogwarts corridor. He walked quickly to try and catch up with him. "Harry?" He called automatically. He instantly regretted it. Wasn't ruining the first memory enough?

But he didn't respond. In that moment, Teddy remembered where he was, and shook his head in disbelief at himself. He had been alarmingly stupid. Harry probably couldn't hear him. This was a memory, after all, and all this had already happened, and Teddy hadn't been there when it did. He was now merely a spectator. His whole being was awash with relief; he hadn't broken the first memory because he had called out to his Dad.

Harry turned to enter a door on the left. The classroom was dark and empty, and Harry began to light the lamps with his wand. Teddy followed, and as he took in the surroundings, he realised that he was in the History of Magic classroom in Hogwarts- it was large and spacious. The two stood waiting in the room in silence. It was interesting to Teddy to be able to watch someone without them knowing about it. It felt somehow personal, or intrusive, but also, intriguing in a way. Teddy watched as Harry absentmindedly tapped the tip of his wand on his fingertips.

The wait in the classroom seemed rather long, but Teddy imagined it had probably only been a few minutes. He began to wonder why he was in this particular memory. Nothing really seemed to be happening. He was still thinking about his Dad in the previous memory. He wanted to go back and see that one again, but this time he would appreciate it more. He wanted to properly take in his Dad's appearance; he wanted to really listen to what he had said. Another figure finally entered the room, carrying a large packing case, which he heaved onto the desk at the front of the classroom. The noise startled Teddy, and he turned to face the figure.

Remus Lupin looked just as ill as last time- perhaps worse, thought Teddy. He was still very pale and thin, with dark circles under his eyes. Despite how ill he looked, Teddy couldn't help a smile encroach upon his lips. His Dad. He just couldn't stop thinking it.

He wore shabby robes and his light brown hair was flecked with grey. He had soft eyes, like Teddy's, and a kind face, despites its lines and shadows. He seemed pleased to see Harry, and he smiled at him.

His father stripped off his cloak as he explained to Harry- and unknowingly, Teddy- that the thing in the box was a Boggart that he had found lurking inside Mr Filch's filing cabinet.

_"It's the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor. The Boggart will turn into a Dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him."_ So the thing Harry feared the most was a Dementor, Teddy considered. Was this why they had been talking about them before? Teddy still felt a bit confused.

_"Okay."_ Teddy though Harry sounded apprehensive to face the substitute Dementor.

_"So… The spell I am going to try and teach you is highly advanced magic, Harry- well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."_

The memory was beginning to make sense. Teddy realised that it was Harry's first private lesson he had had with Lupin on Patronuses. Lupin took out his wand and indicated to Harry to follow. And unbeknown to the teacher, a second student also took out his wand. Teddy had walked over to Harry and stood next to him, focused on his father. He too would learn about Patronuses in the exact same way Harry had learnt. Remus Lupin- Teddy's father- would teach him. Unknown to Lupin, he would be teaching two students tonight- even if it was just through a memory.

Harry asked Lupin how it worked, and he sounded nervous. Who could imagine, Teddy thought, The Chosen One- nervous?

_"Well, when it works correctly, It conjures up a Patronus,"_ said Lupin, _"which is a kind of anti-Dementor- a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the Dementor."_

Teddy imagined himself crouching behind a giant figure wielding a large club, Dementors bouncing off his chest and being batted away with the swinging club.

Lupin continued, _"The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you, Harry, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."_

Harry didn't seemed fazed by this, but Teddy did. What if he wasn't able to do it? Harry asked what a Patronus looked like.

_"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it."_

_ "And how do you conjure it?" _

_"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory. The incantation is this —" _Lupin cleared his throat._ "Expecto patronum!" _

Teddy cast his mind about for a happy memory. He was sure he had plenty to choose from! This sounded easy, he thought arrogantly.

"Expecto Patronum." Teddy quietly repeated to himself, as he heard Harry practising the incantation beside him. A wisp of silvery gas suddenly whooshed out of the end of Harry's wand.

_"Did you see that? Something happened!" _Harry sounded excited. Lupin praised him and smiled, before asking him whether he was ready to try it on a Dementor.

_"Yes."_ Teddy heard Harry say. He watched as Harry, who looked as if he was concentrating hard on something, gripped his wand and moved into the middle of the deserted classroom, directly in front of the packing case, so Teddy copied, standing just beside him.

Lupin grasped the lid of the packing case and pulled it open. A Dementor rose slowly from the box.

Teddy had never faced a Dementor before. He felt frozen in place, staring up at the cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face, which was turned towards them, was completely hidden beneath its hood and one glistening, scabbed hand gripped its cloak. The lamps around the classroom flickered and went out, which startled Teddy. The Dementor started to sweep silently toward them. Teddy felt his heartbeat quicken, pounding deep in his chest. And then, the thing beneath the hood drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it was trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

He couldn't react. The blood running through his veins had frozen in fear. His heart felt like it was expanding and would burst out of his chest. He struggled to breathe, his breath coming in gasped, ragged wheezes. He couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs, he panted harder. His vision was beginning to become blurred, and he swayed a little. The pounding in his ears was so loud he couldn't hear Harry shouting, desperately trying to cast the Patronus charm.

Looking over at Harry, he saw a terrified look on his face, and Teddy wondered if his own expression mirrored this. Harry was as white as a sheet, and Teddy watched, petrified, as he stumbled on the spot and fell onto the floor, his wand clattering down and rolling across the tiles. Teddy stared at his godfather, so young, lying motionless. He couldn't avert his gaze. Was Harry okay?

Teddy tried frantically to move, but he still felt frozen to the spot, as if he was under a Petrificus Totalus curse. His limbs wouldn't work. He really wanted to see if Harry was alright. Of course, somewhere at the back of his mind, sensible reason told him of course he was- this was a memory after all! But it felt like an instinct inside Teddy to help Harry. And no sooner had he thought this, he watched as the figure of his father crouched next to Harry and rolled him over, flat onto his back.

"Harry?" Lupin's voice was tentative, laced with worry. He reached over to Harry's wand and placed it next to him. At his emergence, the Boggart-Dementor disappeared, and was replaced with a strange white glowing orb.

His limbs became unfrozen, and the ice cold feeling deep within his chest lifted. Teddy exhaled a huge breath, coughing. He closed his eyes, trying hard to calm himself, his breathing. He knew the Dementors couldn't touch him inside a memory, nor in Harry's Boggart form, but he could imagine their power only too well. The intense, sweeping cold, the feeling of despair, hopelessness, being left with the worst experiences of your life and feeling like you'll never be cheerful again. It had all felt so real.

"Riddikulus!" He heard a loud, clear voice confidently cry. The orb disappeared back into the packing case, and Lupin had stridden over to it to lock the lid shut. He waved his arm across the classroom and the lamps relit, and he called out to Harry again.

_"Harry!"_ He repeated, louder. The boy on the floor seemed to jerk back to life, his face wet with sweat, and as he sat up, he muttered an apology. Teddy couldn't believe he was apologising- he felt like he would have reacted in exactly the same way. Lupin began to ask Harry if he was all right, and although he said he was, Teddy didn't feel so sure seeing his ashen pallor and watching him lean against one of the desk for support.

Lupin has presented Harry with a chocolate frog, who began to bite into it.

"_I didn't expect you to do it first time. In fact, I would have been astounded if you had."_ Lupin was reassuring Harry. Even Lupin looked paler than usual, Teddy thought. _"Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand-"_

Harry's reply was fierce. _"I do! I've got to! What if the Dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!" _Harry stuffed the rest of the chocolate frog into his mouth.

The Boggart-Dementor seemed like such a dangerous thing to go through, thought Teddy, and yet Harry was only worried about Quidditch. His father agreed to let him have another go, but told Harry to think of a stronger memory to concentrate on.

Teddy shook his head, ready to concentrate on a happy memory as well. But he couldn't think of a single one. It wasn't that he didn't have any- on the contrary, he had plenty. But at that minute, and after seeing Harry- Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the war hero, his godfather- react to the Dementor in such a way, Teddy felt shaken.

_"Ready?"_ Lupin asked Harry, with his hand on the lid of the case. Harry had taken up his usual stance in the middle of the room, wand held out.

_"Ready."_ He had replied.

But Teddy wasn't ready. He swallowed hard, and gripping his wand tightly, he raised his arm, a steely look of determination on his face. He tried to fill his head with happy thoughts- anything he could think of. His Grandmother, his Godfather, Christmas at The Burrow yesterday. He concentrated on these memories as they swum freely and happily through his mind. He refused to think about what was about to come out of that box.

_"Go!"_ Said Lupin, as he pulled off the lid. The room went dark again, but Teddy was prepared. The Dementor glided forwards, hand extended-

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry and Teddy yelled at the exact same time. Harry's had been shaky, and he tried again. _"Expecto Patronum! Expecto Pat-"_ But Teddy had been confident. He had shouted it in a loud, clear voice, one he hoped had made him sound like his father, and he waited for something to happen. But as Harry once again collapsed onto the floor, nothing emerged from the end of Teddy's wand, and it felt as if he hadn't even tried to cast a spell. Lupin knelt on the dusty classroom floor next to Harry and battled the Boggart, now the white orb again, back into the packing case.

He put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Harry." He said, as he shook him gently. He waved the lights on and walked over to the case to secure the lid. Teddy watched him intently. He lent for a second on the lid of the case and let out a quiet sigh, and an emotion Teddy couldn't work out briefly flashed over his face.

Lupin called Harry's name again, returning to his side. Worry flooded onto his face as he called Harry's name a third time, more urgently.

_"Harry! Harry…wake up…" _He began to tap Harry hard on his face.

The same look as before returned to his face. Was it pity? Regret? Worry? Was he starting to doubt whether putting Harry though something that had such an obviously tough effect on him was a good idea?

Harry's eyes opened, but he looked disoriented. It took him a minute to gather his bearings.

Teddy barely heard Harry mumble to Lupin, _"I heard my Dad." _He glanced quickly at Harry, and noticed that his face was wet with tears. It felt strangely personal at that moment, as if Teddy was eavesdropping. Harry had told him before that sometimes, when he had been around the Dementors, he would hear his parents' voices. He would never tell Teddy what they would say, though. He didn't catch the end of what Harry was saying now, it was far too quiet to hear. In fact, it was almost silent, which Teddy found odd.

_"I shouldn't have suggested putting you through this…"_ His father's voice echoed through the eerie silence.

And Teddy understood the strange look on his father's face. Whatever Harry felt when faced with the Dementors must have been worse than Teddy could imagine, and Lupin didn't want to put him through it. But Harry was the son of one of his best friends, and Lupin felt he owed it to his friend to teach his son how to protect himself. Because he knew, given the chance, James would have done it himself.

Harry had got up off the floor. _"I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is…" _He moved to once again stand in front of the case.

Teddy scrunched his face up, resolute. This looked like it could be his last go. He had to get it right. He thought about what Harry had said, that he had not been thinking about happy enough things. Maybe this was where he had been going wrong. He needed to concentrate very hard on a single, happy memory, that's the instruction his Dad had explicitly given them at the beginning. _His Dad._ He grinned inwardly at himself again. He really couldn't help it. And then something clicked- he needed a happy _memory…_

"_Ready?"_ said Lupin, who looked as though he was doing this against his better judgement. _"Concentrating hard? Alright- go!"_ He pulled the lid off the case for the third time, and the Dementor rose out from it.

Teddy filled his head with the memory he had experienced just minutes before, a memory that wasn't even his. He thought about his father and Harry stood in the classroom discussing Dementors, and how one could protect themselves against them, and his father offering to help Harry. He thought about the moment he heard his Dad's voice, saw his Dad before him, for the first time. He let the memory completely encapsulate him and he felt the warmth spread through every nerve of his body. He felt like he should be glowing, he was so happy.

He forced all his happiness down his arm and out through the end of his wand. "Expecto Patronum!" He cried, so loud he almost drowned Harry out, who at the same split second had shouted the same spell.

Lupin's face had lit up as bursting from the end of Harry's wand came a huge silver Teddy wasn't watching Harry. He too had just managed something resembling a Patronus, at least, and he grinned at his own progress. His own Patronus effort hovered next to Harry's, between him and the Dementor. His was more defined than Harry's, and looked like it almost resembled some kind of shape…

For a minute, as Lupin elatedly gazed at the form of white gas emerging from Harry's wand, it almost felt like he was watching Teddy, too. Teddy looked at his Dad's face. It looked so much younger- he was pleased, and impressed, and happy. But what Teddy liked the most, was that he seemed proud.

Harry looked as if he was about to faint again, he looked exhausted, as if he had just run a mile. But somehow he managed to manoeuvre himself into a chair that had been just behind where Teddy was stood. With a loud _crack_, both the Dementor and the Patronus disappeared and Lupin forced the silvery orb-Boggart back into the packing case one final time. Teddy turned to face Harry as Lupin came striding back over, coming to a stop right beside Teddy. They were so close their shoulders were almost touching. The closest he would ever get to his father.

_"Excellent!" _Lupin said proudly. _"Excellent Harry! That was definitely a start!"_

Teddy pretended for a moment that he was talking to him. It was nice to make someone proud. Especially his Dad.


	11. Remus & Tonks's Son

_HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE EVERYONE! Here's my gift: Chapter 11! Enjoy!_

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Teddy felt a hand under his elbow, and turned to see Harry stood beside him. He wasn't watching Lupin, or even his younger self, he was staring intently at Teddy. He felt himself rising into the air; the classroom dissolving around him; for a moment, all was blackness, and then he felt as though he had done a slow motion somersault, suddenly landing flat on his feet, in what seemed like the dazzling wintry light of Harry's library.

His heart sank, as heavy as an anchor. The heart wrenching realisation that it was all just a memory engulfed Teddy and he felt numb. He couldn't believe that just mere moments before he had felt that elated feeling which had enabled him to create the Patronus. A dull pain lingered somewhere within his body.

Harry had entered the memory just before the Boggart was battled into the packing case for the final time. Harry had only caught a glance of the all too familiar Dementor-Boggart and some strange gassy, white shapes, before they disappeared and the Boggart changed to the recognisable silvery orb shape that Harry knew to be Lupin's Boggart, and as he looked around the room, he saw himself, many, _many_ years younger, looking very pale and exhausted sitting in a chair. Teddy was stood in front, watching him. He still remembered it well, and it seemed extremely odd to be watching it back from such a peculiar angle. Harry remembered when he would be allowed to watch TV at the Dursleys when they were out- he thought watching his own memory back was a bit like watching a TV show that he'd already seen. And that he was starring in. It was all very surreal. He hadn't planned to enter the memory, but his curiosity had once again got the better of him and before he knew it he had lent over the basin next to Teddy and was joining him, but unfortunately, it had been nearly the end of the memory.

Teddy hadn't spoken a word, and Harry observed him quietly. He was staring at the window, obviously deep in thought, and Harry didn't want to disturb him. His hair was a sandy brown colour, and his deep brown eyes forlorn, and once again he was reminded of Teddy's father.

Harry began to worry; perhaps the memory in the Pensieve had been too much, had felt too real. He'd made a mistake. He hadn't helped Teddy at all. He'd been so wrapped up with his marvellous idea that he didn't stop to think about the effect that seeing and hearing your dead father, very much real and alive, would really have on Teddy. Was Teddy okay? The silence in the room was deafening; Harry could hear every beat of his heart thunder within his ears.

Harry leant behind the curtain and pulled out a huge bar of Honeydukes finest chocolate. "Here." He said, pushing it into Teddy's hands. "Eat it. It'll help."

Teddy took the chocolate and eyed him suspiciously. Help what?, he wondered.

"I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know…" Harry couldn't help himself; despite how he felt, he smiled sadly as he spoke the exact words Lupin had said to him. "Chocolate is a good remedy for victims of a Dementor attack. You Dad taught me that."

Sighing, Teddy pulled back the foil casing and snapped a few squares of the chocolate apart and laid them onto the paper wrapping before offering it to Harry, who took a square. "I wasn't really a victim of a Dementor attack, though." Teddy said, but he still placed a square of the chocolate into his mouth.

"Yes, but I believe it also has some very powerful 'cheer-people-up' qualities. At least, that's what muggles seem to believe."

And the muggles were right, as the chocolate did seem to have that effect on Teddy. To his great surprise he felt warmth spread suddenly to the tips of his fingers and toes. He offered Harry a small smile.

So, a Boggart turns into a Dementor when it meets you?" He asked Harry conversationally. "Are you still afraid of them?"

Harry puffed out his chest. "Oh, no. Not since I learnt the Patronus charm, or since I defeated Lord Voldemort. A Boggart has no idea what to turn into when I come near it!" He said, his words swathed in mock bravado. "What does it turn into for you?"

Teddy had only faced a Boggart once in his third year, and it had been a distressing experience. He had been confident that he knew what his greatest fear was. From the stories people had told him about the prejudices and suffering his father had faced for being a werewolf, and from what Harry had told him about how terrified his father had been at the possibility of having passed this burden on to his unborn son, Teddy had been confident that the thing he would fear the most would be for his father to have passed his condition to him genetically. Teddy was scared of becoming something his father would blame himself for- a werewolf. The thought of becoming a werewolf as being something to fear had made Teddy feel so guilty that he hoped no one would ever find out. And because of this, he hadn't wanted to face the Boggart during his Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson on them. He did eventually have to try fighting it, but when it emerged from the box the professor had been storing it in, nothing happened. He'd successfully managed to confuse the Boggart. What Teddy had been most scared of, really, was being faced with a Boggart, in case anyone would work out what his most shameful fear was.

He considered whether to tell Harry this story. Harry had just shown him a very personal memory, something he would surely be embarrassed of if people found out how he reacted to a Boggart. He knew Harry would be sympathetic. So in the end, he did.

After finishing, Teddy hung his head. Saying it out loud made him even more ashamed. Harry was quiet for a moment.

"You aren't scared of becoming a werewolf, Teddy." Harry replied reassuringly. "You're scared of becoming something you're father would be ashamed of. That's quite understandable. But I don't think you need to worry- he'd be very proud of you. In fact, they both would. I know I am."

He was glad he had told Harry. He always said the right thing.

"Did you see my Patronus?" He asked Harry, changing the subject.

"No. I joined the memory just after you had cast it, I think. But well done, Teddy. I'm very impressed that you managed it so well."

"It wasn't brilliant, I mean, it was just a faint outline of an animal, really. But I still produced a Patronus!"

"Did you see what shape it was, Teddy?"

"Not really, it was just an outline. It was quite big…" Teddy began trying to describe what he could remember to Harry, but Harry stopped him.

Harry smiled. "It's okay. I think I can probably imagine what animal it was."

Moony would ride again.

Harry really was proud of Teddy. He had learnt so much from so many, and he was so clever for it. He worked so hard to make sure he would please his parents, but just his happiness would have been enough for them. He desired his family, but he already had so many friends. Harry felt honoured to be a part of his life. Teddy was clever and brave, loyal and determined. He was the best qualities of all the four houses. He belonged in any of them. He was the best qualities of Hogwarts. He belonged there. He was the best qualities of Remus and Tonks. He belonged to them.

Teddy was still thinking of Harry's memory in the Pensieve. There was something he couldn't quite shake, something that festered away at the very back of his mind. He had seen his Dad, yes, but it was something that had happened in the past, to someone else, and as always when people spoke of Remus, Teddy was just a spectator; standing on the peripheral edges of someone else's consciousness, unseen, unable to interact, but merely there to watch. It seemed almost cruel; to tease Teddy with something that seemed so real, something he longed for, but could never have. But he knew Harry meant well, and Teddy knew he should be grateful. It was more than he had ever had. It was true; he desired with all his heart that his parents were alive, but he knew that no matter how many shooting stars he wished on, it would never happen. He had accepted long ago that he would never call anyone 'Mum' or 'Dad'. He tried to be pleased that people were willing to share their stories, their photos, now their memories, and that Teddy was able to build a picture in his mind's eye of the type of people his parents were. He didn't feel sad- at least, he didn't think he did. But he felt strange; he felt an emotion he couldn't quite put his finger on. What affected him most from what he saw in the Pensieve was something he had barely even thought about before, and had definitely never experienced; for those few precious moments, he had been someone's son.


	12. Harry's Tale

_Happy new year everyone! I hope no one's New Year's Resolution is to stop reading Harry Potter fanfiction. (If it is, I think you're failing at it.)_

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By mid-afternoon, the rest of the family had arrived at Grimmauld Place and Mrs Weasley's leftovers had been spread over the table in the kitchen like a buffet so everyone could help themselves. There were leftover vegetables and potatoes, turkey sandwiches, slices of gammon, sausage rolls, crisps, sauces and dips, a variety of cheeses and crackers and biscuits to go with them.

"Oh," Mrs Weasley had lamented to Harry as she reached to the plate beside him for some roast potatoes. "Teddy's hair is still brown. I don't know whether he realises how much he looks like his father! And he looks so tired lately. Every time I see him I'm reminded of Remus. Yesterday I nearly asked the poor dear if the full moon had been tough on him!" Harry agreed; at least he wasn't the only one who had noticed the similarity.

The children hurried off to the living room after they had finished their meal to play with their new toys, leaving the adults to clear away the dishes. Harry noticed that Teddy had left as well, which seemed unusual given that Teddy was always the first to offer to help with things like this. He reasoned with himself that it was most likely Lily had cornered him and dragged him off somewhere to show him her new stuffed Hippogriff toy- she had repeatedly told Harry at breakfast that morning that she just knew Teddy would love to see it. But a niggling thought kept reminding him about the events earlier that day. In an effort to silence it, he politely excused himself to check where Teddy was. Harry was still worried about the effect seeing his father in the Pensieve had had on Teddy, and he was even more worried that Ginny would find out- she had explicitly told him to be careful of what he showed to Teddy.

He didn't even bother to check with the other children in the living room- he went straight back up to the library. He peered through the door, and just as he expected, he saw the now-familiar head of sandy brown hair resting against the top of the couch. Although the door was open ajar, Harry still knocked to announce his presence to Teddy. Slowly, he pushed it open further. Teddy, sitting on one of the couches, turned around to see who it was, and when he saw it was Harry, he smiled and stood up- looking very much like he was trying to force the smile to disguise his emotions.

"You're hair seems to like that colour recently." Harry remarked.

Teddy pulled a lock into his eyeline, as if to check the colour, before pushing it back behind his ear. "Yeah, it seems to do whatever it wants right now." He frowned.

Harry watched as Teddy subconsciously walked to the window and stared out at the night sky. The moon was bright, swathing his face in liquid silver. It made his eyes sparkle with a haunting glint Harry had only once seen before; hiding the soul of a tormented werewolf.

It made him feel uncomfortable- Harry was reminded of the night he witnessed Professor Lupin's transformation into a werewolf, so he shifted his gaze. He caught sight of the glass 'Patronus' vial in Teddy's hand.

"The Pensieve is yours to keep, Teddy." Harry said quietly, dragging Teddy from his solitary thoughts. "I've got several other memories I'd like you to see, and I've labelled them all up in these vials-" Harry pointed roughly to the side of the Pensieve, where a small box filled with little glass containers lay. Teddy's eye was drawn to a uniquely pointed one with a funny label hanging from it. "You can watch them whenever you want, then."

"Aren't Pensieves really rare? I mean, I know you were _'the chosen one',_ and all," Harry pulled a face, "but where did you get it?" Teddy had read a lot about Pensieves. He knew there was one in the Headmistress's study, but anytime he had been there, it never seemed to change, or move. He'd figured she'd probably never used it. And other than that, there seemed to be little knowledge of only about a handful of others in existence.

"Oh, Teddy. That is a thrilling tale, I wish to do it justice."

"You're doing that thing again." Teddy commented.

Harry frowned. What thing?, he wondered.

After seeing Harry's confused face, Teddy continued. "Where you try to sound like Dumbledore. But it doesn't really work, you know. You don't really sound half as wise as I imagine he did." Harry scowled playfully back at him.

Harry wasn't doing it intentionally- at least, he didn't think he was. It was just that with all this talk about the Pensieve and memories, he couldn't help but think about Dumbledore.

He considered for a moment, and walked over to stand by Teddy at the window. Would telling Teddy exactly where the Pensieve came from be the best idea? He looked at Teddy; he'd been having a rough time since finding the mirror. It was hard, especially at Christmas- a holiday for families and getting together and celebrating. It was incredibly kind that the Weasleys' and Harry adopted Teddy into their families as their own, and Harry knew Teddy was glad, but he also understood how Teddy would be feeling. There was one thing Harry knew better than anyone- no matter how many friends you have, no one can replace your parents. Being an orphan can be the loneliest thing in the world. The few moments Teddy had spent in the Pensieve, when he was able to finally see his father after so long, had made him so happy, Harry knew. And there were so many more memories he wanted to share with him. He could risk ruining it all for Teddy if he knew where it was from. Teddy smiled back at Harry, innocence radiating from him. He had no real experience of the kind of Dart Arts some people were capable of.

But then, he owed it to Teddy to be honest.

He sighed. "Just don't think too badly of me once you hear where it came from, Teddy."

Harry began to recount the story to Teddy. After he had taught his lesson on Patronuses at Hogwarts, and after finding Teddy in front of the Mirror, and after ordering Kreacher to follow Teddy, Harry had decided to stay at least a little true to his word to Professor McGonagall that night and visit Professor Dumbledore's portrait.

He began to walk back up the stairs to the gargoyle statue of the third floor_,_ which would lead to the Headmistress's office. Noting the quiet of the castle and the absence of students, he quickened his pace, breaking into a slight run. It had been years since he had run through the corridors of Hogwarts, and he briefly began to experience that all too familiar fluttering feeling in the base of his stomach, as the thrilling threat of being caught at any moment tugged at his mind. His footsteps resonated around the corridor, his heartbeat and ragged breathing boomed around his head. He skidded to a stop in front of the statue, muttered the password- Jelly Babies- and the gargoyle leapt aside, revealing the slowly ascending circular staircase. With a wave of nostalgia, Harry once again stepped on the revolving stairs.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed whilst he was with Teddy so he was apprehensive to visit the Headmistress's study in case she was there, and it would seem rude for him to barge in after she most likely thought he had already spoken with the old Headmaster and had apparated home.

By some very fortunate twist of luck, Professor McGonagall was not in her office. Fearing he might be short on time and that she would return any moment, Harry looked around the room and found both objects he had desired. First, the portrait of Dumbledore, and second, the Pensieve. Harry walked to the portrait on the wall and woke the professor, although Harry seriously doubted that he was asleep.

After polite greetings and recounts of how he had been lately, Harry pressed straight to the point.

"Professor," Harry began. The Professor smiled kindly at Harry over his half-moon spectacles; he knew Harry was here to seek knowledge. "I need to ask you something. About…." He paused.

"Go on." Dumbledore encouraged.

"About the Pensieve. What I need to know mainly," He glanced to the door. "Is where to get them."

"Ahh." Dumbledore replied softly. "Are there memories you wish to relieve, Harry? Or perhaps, forget entirely?"

Harry shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Should he tell Dumbledore? He might try and convince Harry that his idea wasn't a good one. But then, he thought, what was a portrait really going to do?

"I want to show Teddy some memories of his parents."

Dumbledore surprised Harry by offering him a satisfied smile, and Harry guessed Dumbledore somehow knew all along why Harry wanted to know about the Pensieve.

"A Pensieve is an incredibly powerful magical object, and as such- and as I imagine you have probably guessed- they are incredibly rare. However, they are not impossible to get hold of." This was true. Harry had guessed they were extremely rare- never did he think he would be able to pick one up from Diagon Alley.

"The liquid is a relatively simple potion, with just a few key ingredients. I imagine most of them you would have in your own personal stores already, but if not they would indeed be available from Slug & Jiggers Apothecary. I have no doubt in your ability that you would be able to brew up such a potion," Harry flinched; he had never been a very talented Potions maker. He had never possessed the certain 'talent', he hadn't mastered the subtle science and exact art of Potion-making. He hadn't been able to create a potion that could bewitch the mind, ensnare the senses, he never learnt to bottle fame, brew glory- he had put a stopper in death, but that was due to Voldemort's theatrics and what he felt was sheer luck rather than a potion. Dumbledore seemed to notice his reaction. "Certainly, Miss Granger would have no difficulty." Harry smiled at the way Dumbledore spoke of Hermione.

"However," He continued, sighing. "It is the basin in which the potion will be kept that makes it result in the desired effect. You couldn't possible put in in a simple dish. To allow the memories to grow, and formulate, and absorb the viewer as if it were happening around them at that very moment, it must be an item which has seen a great deal of powerful magic. Remember, _magic always leaves traces_. The stronger the magic engrained in the Pensieve, the more powerful the reproduction of the memory.

The Pensieve here at Hogwarts has been here since the founders started the school. It started its life, I believe, as a simple enchanted water fountain. It has seen a huge number of powerful young witches and wizards walk along these corridors and enter this very office. Therefore it has absorbed some of the magic of which they emanate so freely, and over the years, as it has seen more and more witches and wizards, it has absorbed more and more magic. It is difficult to find an object that has seen such great power."

Harry sighed, downhearted. He had expected it to be difficult to locate a Pensieve, and had imagined it would cost a great price, but he wasn't convinced when Dumbledore said they were not impossible to get hold of- right now, it sounded impossible.

"I can think of only a handful of others that I have ever seen. One I feel you may be familiar with. The basin in which Voldemort hid Salazar Slytherin's locket, I believe, is a Pensieve."

Harry's heart stopped.

* * *

_Just a quick note; I realise the time line in this chapter is a bit odd, but I didn't want it to be a huge script of Harry's first person retelling of the story to Teddy. If I've confused anyone, Harry's visit to Dumbledore happens right after the end of chapter four. (Feel free to go back and reread the ending of chapter four and then Harry's story in this to gain your bearings!)_

_Also I hope the Pensieve thing made sense, it definitely did in my head and I hope it translated in writing too._

_If anyone is still confused by anything let me know and I would be more than happy to clarify!_


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